Crush Course 101
by PerrythePlatypusGirl
Summary: Shiro is a high school senior with a good reputation and a solid academic record. He has only one weakness: Keith Kogane, the mysterious popular boy who moved here just last year and took the school by storm. Shiro is certain that Keith would never look in his direction, but perhaps some chance of fate, and a class camping trip, can turn the tides in his favor.
1. Chapter 1: Shiro

The late September sky was dreary as usual, gray clouds hanging over the flat top of the school building as if to reflect the sleepy autumn morning mood of its staff and students. The classroom that Shiro was currently seated in was fairly dark, which was fortunate for the students who would rather take a nap than actually pay attention. The teacher was still seated at her desk in front, giving only minimal acknowledgement to the teenagers who were gradually dragging themselves through the door and onto one of the seats.

Shiro's usual spot was near the back, by the wall. It was a nice spot to be, people generally didn't pay attention to him, and he could drop his usual friendly smile for a change. It was also nice that he had a friend sitting next to him too, this class gave him anxiety.

Said friend, Matt Holt, had plopped into the seat next to Shiro just minutes ago and was noisily messing around with the contents of his backpack. Shiro didn't say anything to him, waiting for the boy to get himself settled, until Matt turned to him. "Was the lab report due today?"

"Yeah," replied Shiro.

"Ok, good. I stayed up all night to finish this thing, I'd punch myself if it wasn't due."

Shiro rolled his eyes with a grin. "Don't tell me you literally started and finished it yesterday."

Matt held up a defiant finger. "Hey, I do these reports in record time, Shiro. And I still get A's. I see no reason to drag it out any longer than that."

"Your health?"

"Ehh, debatable."

While Shiro was preparing a mental plan on what to do when Matt inevitably fainted of exhaustion in the hallways, another one of their classmates stepped through the door, and suddenly the room was brightly illuminated. Not literally, but for Shiro and many others, it felt more like a jolt of life would strike them whenever he was around. Surrounded by an aura of mystery and coolness was the simultaneous joy and bane of Shiro's existence: Keith Kogane.

Shiro could still remember the first day of senior year when he realized that Keith was in not one, but two of his classes. It was too much for his heart to take, and even now, he went every class praying that nobody could see how red he turned or hear how loudly his heart was banging in his chest. Keith had only been around for a year, but without even trying he'd earned the attention and giggly excitement of most female students, due to his pretty face, athletic abilities, and his angsty, mysterious demeanor.

He also managed to attract some not-so-female students. Like Shiro.

Shiro had no idea how he'd gotten this way. Never had he been so elated and yet so terrified to see one specific person. He'd only spoken to Keith a few times out of necessity, but each time he'd frozen up and was completely unable to function as a human being. He didn't like thinking about it. He was pretty sure that Keith had forgotten his existence anyway, leaving Shiro to pine away from behind.

Takashi Shirogane was one of the brightest students in the school, was the student council VP, and the survivor of an accident that would have killed most anyone else...and his weakness was a cute boy.

Matt suddenly started poking Shiro's arm with the end of his pencil, finally snapping Shiro out of his lovestruck trance.

"Hey!" Matt snapped. "Quit staring at him and pay attention to me."

Shiro blinked. Keith was seated toward the front of the room, idly staring at his phone just like everyone else. Shiro finally managed to tear his eyes off him to look at Matt. "Sorry," he sighed. "Were you saying something?"

"Just that we might be watching a movie in class today-man, you've really got it bad for him, don't you?"

Shiro responded by trying to hide behind his hand.

Matt shook his head sadly. "This is tragic. Why don't you just go say hi?"

"Matt, you've seen what happens when I try to talk to him."

"Oh yeah, like when you tried to back away and bumped into some people carrying lu-"

 _"We don't talk about that,"_ Shiro cut him off. "But yes, like that. And it's not like I can just walk up and say hi out of nowhere. That would be weird."

"It's not _that_ weird," Matt supplied helpfully. "You're already, uh...a friend of his friend. That's a connection."

Shiro side-eyed him. Matt knew he was reaching for straws now, and he wasn't even entirely correct. Allura was more of a colleague to Shiro than a friend. An acquaintance. Definitely not close enough for her to set him up with her friend.

"Just let it go, Matt," Shiro replied at last. "He's already got a million pretty girls to choose from, why would he go for some guy who looks like he's 28?"

Matt merely blinked slowly in response. Before he could say more, the teacher finally stood up to get their attention and announced that they would, in fact, be watching a movie.

"Well, I'm out," Matt declared. He quickly took off his glasses and plopped his head down on his desk, already half asleep. "Wake me up when the bell rings."

Shiro rolled his eyes but made no move to stop him.

His day went by fairly normally after that, uneventful aside from idle chit chat with some classmates and his prosthetic arm acting weird like it sometimes did. Nothing else really happened until lunch time, when he and Matt went out to the quad to meet who looked to be Matt's smaller clone, but was actually just his little sister Pidge.

"So, it looks like the schedule for the clubs got all mixed up," Pidge was saying, mouth full of food. "Everyone on the mailing list was confused as hell because there were announcements that robotics club was moved, and a bunch of people found the anime club members in our room. Anything to say about that, Mr. VP?"

"New vice principal," Shiro replied simply. "Lubos decided that he wants to get more involved with student activities, but he's kinda messing everything up. Allura's doing what she can to manage it though."

Pidge scoffed. "Yeah, if she's not too busy managing all her boyfriends," she muttered.

 _"Pidge."_

"Sorry, sorry," Pidge held her hands up. "That was uncalled for. Just kinda slipped out."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Still can't let go of your raging hateboner for Allura?"

"I don't _hate_ her," Pidge insisted. "She just kinda rubs me the wrong way."

"How come?" Shiro asked with a frown. "Have you ever tried talking to her, Pidge? I work with her all the time, she's perfectly nice."

Pidge leaned on the table and tilted her head at him. "Shiro," she began cheekily. "I know you probably haven't noticed since your head is a giant rainbow pride parade, but Allura is a _pretty girl._ She has nice hair, a nice smile, and big boobs, and boys don't stop constantly drooling over her like dogs."

Shiro grimaced. "I know that, Pidge. So, you're jealous?"

"Nooo," Pidge denied with a wave of her hand. "I just find it kind of unnerving that the girl goes around with a trail of guys wrapped around her finger, is all. A bit scary."

"Ah, to be popular," Matt mused, completely ignoring his sister's rant. "Wonder what it's like."

Pidge took a breath through her nose and decided it was best to switch the subject. "Anyway, speaking of rainbows, how did this morning go?"

 _"Ha!"_ Matt laughed, while Shiro groaned into his hand.

"Did anything happen?" Pidge asked eagerly. "Come on, give me the details!"

"What details? He just stared at the back of his head like he always does!"

"What? Aw, come on, Shiro, you can do better! Hurry up and ask him out so we can get started planning your wedding."

Shiro's hand slid down his face. "I don't know why I even hang out with you guys."

Pidge was snickering. "Aww, come on Shiro, you know you love us-oh," her smile disappeared and she raised an eyebrow at something past him. "Speak of the devil."

Shiro's heart jumped and he turned expecting to see Keith, but instead, Allura was the one standing behind them, holding a clipboard to her chest and smiling nervously at Shiro.

Pidge looked downward as Allura quickly headed over, waving sweetly as she stopped by where they sat. "Hi," she began softly. "Sorry to interrupt, but can I steal Shiro for a second? Emergency student council meeting."

"I mean, sure," Pidge mumbled. "We don't own the guy."

"What's going on?" Shiro asked Allura, and she just tugged on his arm in response.

"I'll tell you on the way," Allura said as she dragged him away from his friends. "The New York thing just sunk, we've only got a little bit of time to get things back on track."

"Wait, _what?_ What happened?"

"Lubos. What else do you think happened?"

"You've _got_ to be kidding me."

Allura shook her head sadly.

"Hey, Allura!" a male voice suddenly cried out. "Where are you going?"

The voice, of course, belonged to Keith, whom they'd just passed along with two other guys standing around in the corner. Shiro looked somewhere else.

"Sorry, Keith!" Allura hollered back. "Student council! Can't talk! See you!"

"Wha-you're just gonna leave me with this guy?"

"This guy," whose name Shiro vaguely recalled to be Lance, ignored Keith's apparent annoyance with him and just yelled even louder after Allura. "Hey wait! Are you going to cancel the talent show? Don't do that, I've been perfecting my act all summer!"

Allura ignored him, and Shiro was finally able to breathe as they turned a corner to their usual meeting room.

Everyone inside was chattering with excitement and concern. Allura finally let go of Shiro's wrist and, in a demonstration of her utter lack of tact, she stomped over to the whiteboard, picked up a pen and wrote in all caps: _NEW YORK: CANCELLED!_

The chatter got louder. Somebody screamed.

Shiro rubbed his head in anticipation of a future headache, before raising two fingers to his mouth and whistling as loud as he could. Everyone finally shut up, and Allura gave him a grateful smile. That whistle of his was probably the reason she chose Shiro to be her VP in the first place (she called it his "commanding presence").

"Thank you," she breathed. She then turned to the room with a serious expression. "Okay, everyone. As you've probably figured by now, The class trip to New York has been sunk. Apparently our new vice principal thinks our class can't handle flying in a plane and staying in a hotel for a week."

"Oh, come on!" Someone called out. "We spent all of last semester campaigning for that!"

"I know, I know," Allura sighed. "You all worked so hard for it, and I'm frustrated too. But it seems like we'll have to pull together and come up with another class event for the spring. We have two months to prepare."

"Luckily," Shiro spoke up. "We found out _now_ instead of in November. We still have time to come up with something and pull it together. If anyone has ideas, just shout them out."

The room was quiet for a moment, before a girl in the back spoke up shyly, "Take a plane somewhere...closer?"

"Amusement park trip?" someone else said.

"Wait!" said a third. "What about a camping trip?"

That seemed to catch their attention, and the whole council started to discuss the logistics. Allura seemed relieved that this group of people had chosen an idea so quickly. Of course, taking an entire class on a camping trip was kind of a huge deal, and if this didn't go over well with the vice principal, who knows what they would do.

After a few more minutes of talking about campsites and budget, Allura decided that she felt better, and dismissed the council to go get some lunch.

When they were gone, Allura gathered up her stuff and shot a smile toward Shiro. "Thanks for coming on such short notice," she told him. "They only just told me about the cancellation this morning, so I panicked."

"It's no problem," Shiro said. "I know this whole new vice principal thing's been annoying."

"Yeah, honestly? I'm this close to just calling it quits and making you the pres instead."

"Please don't. I can't do this alone."

Allura laughed. "I'm kidding. Anyway, keep your eye on the group chat, we've got a ton of stuff to talk about."

She definitely wasn't joking about that, as even right after lunch, the student council group text was going crazy, with everyone remembering new details that needed to be sorted out and wanting to get everything done today. Unfortunately, Shiro couldn't exactly whistle and calm them down over a group text, and he didn't want to be caught texting in class anyway. So he was content to just watch the messages fly across his screen while the teacher droned on about the book they were currently studying.

"Hey, Shiro."

Shiro didn't hear his name being whispered from nearby, instead frowning at the one girl typing in all caps and freaking everyone out. Maybe he could just type out one message before things got out of hand. He didn't want to have to deal with panic at the next meeting.

"Shiro."

Shiro blinked, making a mental note to maybe set some rules for the group chat later, and finally looked up. Who the heck was whispering his name right now when the teacher was- _oh god it's Keith._

Keith was turned around in his seat, looking like something out of a movie, and was staring at him expectantly while whispering something Shiro didn't hear.

"Huh?" Shiro managed to choke out.

"Pencil," Keith spoke a little louder, and this time he pointed somewhere under Shiro's chair.

Shiro followed his finger and noticed the pencil that he'd apparently dropped. Trying not to choke on his own heartbeat, he picked it up and handed it to him without daring to say anything or look directly at him.

"Thanks," Keith took the pencil from him and turned back toward the front. That was it for him, but not for Shiro.

It really shouldn't be a big deal that Keith knew his name, they were classmates after all, but Shiro had already convinced himself for his own peace of mind that Keith wasn't aware of his existence. Now he couldn't help but overthink and wonder if Keith remembered all the dumb things Shiro done in an attempt to talk to him, or if he ever noticed Shiro unintentionally staring. Or hey, maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe Allura had mentioned Shiro favorably. Perhaps he could consider Matt's proposition on that whole "friend of friend" idea.

The teacher was still talking, but there was no way Shiro would be able to pay attention today. He also decided not to reply to the bgroup chat after all or he'd just end up screaming like everyone else.

 **Next: Keith POV**


	2. Chapter 2: Keith

Keith wasn't a morning person. It had taken a while for people to figure it out, but with his sour morning attitude and his tendency to withdraw into a corner with his friends, people had eventually learned not to hound him until after lunch.

Too bad all his friends were morning people themselves.

Allura was already hard at work typing away to the rest of her council, discussing some other lively event that they were planning for them. Hunk was probably texting his new girlfriend with some cheesy quotes he picked up from a book somewhere. Lance was being loud. As usual.

"Alluraaaaa, who are you texting?" He whined, trying to look over her shoulder. "Don't cancel the talent show."

"We're not cancelling the talent show, Lance," Allura sighed. "We're talking about something else. I promise you'll get to dance and sing your heart out on the stage eventually."

"Good."

Keith didn't want to be on the receiving end of Lance's pestering, so he pulled out his phone and also pretended to be texting someone. Huh. Three new messages from that Jennifer girl he met the other day. He should probably text her back at some point.

What was the socially acceptable amount of time to keep a girl waiting for a text? Keith still wasn't used to his whole popularity thing despite having been at it for a year. It's not like he'd really done anything. It was just the luck of the draw that his current foster dad was the family friend of the school's favorite girl and that she'd taken him under her wing. And that people around here apparently had a thing for emo boys.

Keith started typing out a reply to Jennifer as Lance leaned back onto the wall next to him.

"Seriously?" The other boy began. "You're all starting to look like one of those comics that old guys draw about how cell phones are bad."

"Maybe we just don't want to talk to you," Keith grumbled.

Lance frowned. "And who could you be texting that more important than your friends, Keith?" He leaned over to look a Keith's phone, and Keith pushed him away. "Whoa, wait-Jennifer Meruno? No fair, how come you get all the cute chicks?"

"Quit touching my phone, dumbass," Keith muttered and quickly turned his back to him.

Lance poured at his back, just as Hunk laughed at something on his phone.

"What's so funny?" Lance asked.

"Hmm? Oh sorry, Shay just said something cute," Hunk replied, still smiling and typing away.

"Jesus, Hunk," Keith said. "You keep being sappy with your girlfriend, you're going to drown in it."

"Hey," Hunk replied. "It's not my fault I happened to find my soulmate before the rest of you and that she's the most amazing person in the whole world."

Keith made a choking noise and Lance groaned. "Ok, Hunk, we got it. You have an awesome girlfriend and you like watching the rest of us struggle with relationships."

"Oh come on, every relationship has its struggles. Shay and I just have the least because we're perfect for each other."

At that point, Allura finally put her phone down for a moment and changed the subject. "So-how do all of you feel about a class camping trip?"

The other three immediately looked up. "Camping trip?" Lance sounded excited now. "When?"

"During spring break this year."

"I thought we were going to New York," Hunk said.

"Nope," Allura sighed. "It got cancelled. We're trying to put this together instead, but we might have to end up petitioning for it."

"Alright, so you want us to spread to word," Lance finished with a grin. "No problem, Allura, by the end of the day every senior in all of my classes will be hella hyped about this camping trip, you can count on me."

The bell rang right then, accentuating the end of Lance's promise. Keith finally pushed himself off the wall and started on his way to his first class, when suddenly Allura grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, Keith," she began, walking next to him through the hall. "Speaking of that talent show, I was thinking maybe you could audition."

Keith raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would I do that?"

"Come on, I've heard you sing," she smirked at him. "I'm sure all of your admirers would love it."

"Ehhh, I don't know, Allura..."

"Auditions are in a couple of days, just think about it," Allura conceded. "Besides, you'll be able to beat Lance at his own game."

Keith thought about that. "Well. I do enjoy beating Lance."

Allura snickered. "Then I'll see you on stage in two days."

Keith sighed and waved goodbye to her, finally entering science class and plopping down in his seat. Some of the girls in his class waved nervously at him, and he awkwardly waved back before resting his head on his desk, waiting for class to start.

There were whispers, and suddenly a wad of crumpled up paper hit Keith in the back of the head.

Keith picked his head up and turned to shoot and annoyed glare at the culprit. Matt Holt, a few rows back, smiled back apologetically at him.

"Oh, shit, Keith, I'm _so_ sorry," Matt began. "I was trying to get that into the trash, see, _Shiro_ over here bet that I couldn't make it from here, and whoops! Looks like he was right! Shiro, you sure are a competent decision maker who never takes risks that you can't benefit from! What a swell guy! Anyway, sorry to hit you, Keith, totally didn't mean to do that."

The look of utter shock and betrayal on Shiro's face was so genuine and comical that Keith almost wanted to laugh. Unfortunately, his morning mood didn't allow him to.

"It's fine, whatever," he mumbled at last, turning back toward the front. If it had been anyone else, he would have snapped at them with no remorse, but as it was, he already felt like he was walking on eggshells when it came to Shiro.

The guy seemed nice, Keith didn't doubt that (Allura wouldn't choose a _mean_ person to be her VP), but it somehow Keith felt like he'd gotten off on the wrong foot with him from the start and there wasn't much of a way to fix it. He'd met Shiro last year when he'd first moved here, and the guy always seemed to look away from him and cut conversations short, despite being fairly open and friendly to everyone else. Keith had figured that he was just shy around new people and didn't push it.

Then Shiro had disappeared for several months. It quickly spread around that he'd been in an accident and when he returned, he had some pretty nasty looking scars and a prosthetic replacement for his right arm.

Keith hadn't meant to, but he'd stared. Shiro had caught him staring. And ever since then, Keith had a pretty certain feeling that Shiro hated him.

But, it wasn't like it mattered much. He felt bad, yeah, but it wasn't like he and Shiro were close, or that he could really do anything about it. He had his friends and that was all he really needed.

Class soon started, and Keith just let himself drift to sleep.

* * *

Keith returned to his foster dad's apartment that afternoon to the smell of yet another experimental dish. Oh boy. Keith made a mental note to order pizza later. Coran was a great foster father, really, much better than some of what Keith had in the past, but his cooking prowess could be a little...hit and miss.

Coran pulled his head away from the oven when he heard the door, and gave Keith one of his spritely smiles. "Ah, Keith, welcome back!" he chirped. "How was school?"

Keith shrugged and shut the door behind him. "Eh, same old."

"Nothing exciting happening?"

"Allura's trying to plan a class camping trip."

"Ah, splendid!" He paused, pulling something out of the oven and tasting it tentatively. "Hey, do you mind coming here and giving this a taste?"

Keith groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Oh come on, it's not as bad as last time!" Coran insisted, holding out a spoon of green stuff for Keith to taste. "It's just a meat casserole with some other things added in. Just try it!"

Keith grimaced, but trudged over and let Coran shovel a spoonful of the stuff right into his mouth.

Oh yeah, they were definitely getting pizza.

"Oh, it's...it's great," Keith told him as he forced himself to swallow. "I, uh, gotta go do some homework now though, so you can just...keep at it."

He was pretty sure that Coran saw right through his lie, but Keith quickly retreated to his room before he could say anything else.

Keith threw his backpack onto the floor and flopped down on his bed with a sigh. He'd get started on his work soon, but he first took a second to pull out his phone and check what he'd missed. Aside from the usual social media stuff he didn't care about, there were a few messages from Allura with song suggestions for the talent show, and a few more from Jennifer Meruno asking to meet up sometime. He responded to Allura right away to thank her, and decided to give Jennifer the socially acceptable two hours before replying.

With that, he tossed his phone aside, stretched, and got up to get on with the rest of his normal, boring day.

* * *

 **Next up: Talent show!**


	3. Chapter 3: Talent Show

Shiro parked his car in front of the school auditorium and took a deep, shuddering breath. This was nothing new. He was just going to direct a talent show rehearsal and give encouragement to his classmates like he'd done a million times before. What exactly was different this time?

Oh yeah, apparently Keith had passed the auditions and now Shiro was supposed to work with him to make his act better. If he was as good of a singer as Allura hyped him up to be, then Shiro would be officially unable to function for the rest of the night. Which would be...bad.

He gulped, took another deep breath, and climbed out of his car. It was no big deal. He'd just go in there, get the rehearsal done, and go home, and everything would be just fine.

When he entered the auditorium, the whole cast of performers already seemed to be there, with one of the drama teachers keeping a silent watch over theme from the corner. Shiro waved at him in quick greeting and approached the gaggle of students.

"Hey everyone," he began in his confident leader voice, "Thanks for coming out tonight, we'll try to be done here as quickly as possible. Let's just make sure everyone's here first-" he whipped out the list of names Allura had given him and started calling them out, "Florona and Plaxum?"

"Here!"

"Lance?"

"Present and accounted for, my good sir!" the brown haired boy on stage declared, earning eyerolls from some and giggles from others.

"Ok then," Shiro continued. "Uh...Keith?"

"He's coming," Lance called out. "He likes to be fashionably late."

As if on cue, the door to the auditorium swished open again, and Keith came in like the wind; confident, hotheaded, unstoppable. Shiro already felt his pulse start to race and forced himself to calm down. It was going to be okay, he was going to get through this rehearsal with his dignity intact, thank you very much.

Lance rolled his eyes as Keith climbed onto the stage, guitar case slung over his shoulder like it was nothing.

"Or maybe he's just _late,"_ Lance muttered.

"I'm not late," Keith snapped. "It's seven o'clock, like Allura told us."

"It's 7:01, actually."

Keith ignored him and disappeared backstage to put his stuff away.

Shiro finally managed to get himself together again and continued down the list.

It wasn't too hard to get everything sorted out. Every act would ask for their lighting to look a certain way, for their music to start at a certain time, for their exit to happen in a certain fashion. Under Shiro's direction, the acts were placed in the order they would perform during the real thing. Lance wanted to go last so that he could be the showstopper, but Shiro instead placed him after the intermission to wake the audience back up with something energetic.

Keith was going to go last instead because, in Shiro's completely unbiased and professional opinion, Keith was the best.

Of course, he had yet to see him perform. But that was about to change now that Keith had dragged out a chair and acoustic guitar and was currently talking to the spotlight guy backstage.

It was going to be okay, he was going to be okay.

Keith then looked at Shiro. Shiro looked down, composed himself, stared up at the curtain behind Keith, and gave the signal to begin.

The song was slower than what he expected from Keith, and within the first few seconds Shiro swore he heard someone quiet down a couple of squealing girls backstage. Then Keith actually started singing.

 _I just want you close, where you can stay forever._

Oh dear god, Shiro was _not_ going to be okay.

* * *

 _Hey Allura, rehearsal went well today, but would you mind getting Romelle to direct the next one? I think I'm coming down with something. Thanks._

* * *

When the day of the show arrived, the auditorium was packed. Everyone backstage was getting ready for the second half of the show, with the upcoming acts panicking while the ones who were already done tried to reassure them.

Shiro quickly gathered up the upcoming acts while the MCs were getting the audience settled once more.

"Okay, look," Shiro began. "The last group went and did just fine, and it's going to be the same for you. This isn't American Idol, okay? Nobody out there is going to judge you. These are your peers, your friends, your teachers, and they're just here to have a good time like you are. Take a deep breath, relax, kick some ass."

They nodded, and Lance looked like he was going to burst into tears. "You are so fucking inspirational, man, I feel like I can take on the whole world right now."

"Good," Shiro replied cheekily. "Because you're up."

Lance screamed, and Keith gave him a hard smack on the back, sending him running onto the stage. " _Ok here I go, no pressure!"_

Lance, of course, did perfectly fine, and came back bragging about it as if he hadn't been screaming like a scared little girl just minutes before. Shiro didn't give him a hard time, he had his other things to focus on.

Like Keith standing right next to him, gripping his guitar and staring straight ahead onto the stage. Shiro tried not to think too hard about how good he looked. Or how close he was standing. Or how he was about to go out and sing that love song and destroy Shiro once again.

As the act before him finished up, Keith looked up at Shiro almost expectantly. "I guess I'm up."

"Yeah," Shiro answered, voice as level as he could possibly keep it. "Uh, you-you're gonna do great."

He wasn't looking at Keith, but he could tell that the boy was frowning.

As the MCs announced Keith's name, Shiro took the opportunity to duck out. "Just give me a sec," he told Allura. "I need to...go to the bathroom."

Shiro hopped down the stairs and hid himself behind a stack of boxes, breathing deeply as he heard the guitar chords starting. The audience was squealing, Keith was singing his heart out into the mic. Romelle had obviously done some work with him, because he looked and sounded way better than he had before.

Now that he was hidden, Shiro leaned back against the wall and just...let himself watch and listen.

 _You and me together, through the days and nights, I don't worry cause everything's gonna be alright._

Oh man, wouldn't it be nice if Keith was singing those words to him. He wasn't, of course, and Shiro had no doubt that 90% of the audience was thinking the same thing. But right now, nobody could see him, nobody could hear him, and a little fantasizing wouldn't hurt anyone.

 _No one, no one, no one, can in the way of what I feel for you._

He was beautiful. He had Shiro and the entire audience completely enraptured, his movements precise and calculated and _gorgeous._ Was he doing this on purpose or was he just naturally this amazing?

Shiro made no attempt to stop the goofy smile from forming on his face, and just admired him. He felt blessed to be in Keith's presence, while also lamenting the fact that he'd botched up yet another chance to actually form a connection with the guy. But, he didn't want to think about that now. He was just going to keep watching the show, and keep dreaming.

* * *

Pidge folded her hands together on the table as Shiro let out his approximately 5627th sigh. The poor guy hasn't been quite the same since that talent show, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

"Hey Matt," she whispered, leaning toward her brother. "Should we throw some water at him or something? I feel like he's about to shut down."

Matt shrugged. "Don't worry, Katie, I've seen him like this before. He crashes and takes a little while to start back up, but after that he's fine."

"This is like watching a remote control car repeatedly ram itself into a wall."

Matt snorted. "Yeah, he's kind of a mess. But I guess there's not much we can do as long as he doesn't want us to help him."

Shiro didn't seem to be reacting to anything Matt said, and Pidge just shook her head again. If something didn't happen soon, this poor guy's massive crush might end up killing him.

* * *

 **Pssst, if you haven't heard Steven Yeun's cover of No One, I recommend checking it because it is...heavenly.**

 **Next up: Keith hooks up with a girl**


	4. Chapter 4: New Girlfriend

It all started when Jennifer Meruno approached him in the halls during lunch time, a sweet smile on her face and a stack of half sheets of paper in her hand. "Hi Keith," she greeted with a flirty bow of the head. "We haven't talked in a while."

Keith could feel Lance's envious glare from behind him but ignored it. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. Been busy with...stuff."

Her expression didn't change and she nodded. Then, she leaned a little closer and handed him one of the papers in her hand, speaking softly. "Well, I just thought I'd let you know-my parents are going to be out of town for the weekend, and I wanted to invite you to a little get together I'm having while they're gone."

Keith raised an eyebrow as he looked the paper over. "You mean a party."

"Sure, if you want to call it that," she winked as she handed invitations to Lance and Hunk, who looked it over in a similar way.

"This Friday?" Hunk piped up. "Ah, gee, sorry, I can't make it, I...have some prior family commitments."

Jennifer looked slightly disappointed. "Aww, that's okay. Maybe some other time." She then turned back to Keith. "I hope that you'll be there, at least?"

Keith hesitated for a second, but looked at her pleading eyes and caved. "Sure, I'll...do my best to be there."

"Great!" she chirped. "I'll see you then! Bye, guys!" She whirled on her heel and strode away, stuffing the small flyers in her backpack as she passed by a teacher.

"Oh man," Lance sighed as he leaned on Keith's shoulder. "She is totally into you, you lucky bastard. I hope one of her cute friends is at the party, at least."

Keith just shrugged and stuffed the flyer into his pocket. Jennifer was a nice girl, they'd been flirting back and forth for a while, so maybe something good would come out of this.

"Hunk, you sure you're not going?" Lance asked.

"Nah man, I've got stuff to do at home. You guys have fun"

"Sure thing. Keith, I hope you're prepared to be the driver in case I get wasted. Don't tell Allura about this though, she'd probably tie us to a chair and give us the lecture of our lives."

* * *

Keith really only went to make Jennifer happy, and because Lance had pestered him about how "I need a driver" and "it will be fun."

He wouldn't exactly call this _fun_ , it was a bit loud for his taste, but it wasn't exactly boring either. Right now he was munching on a slice of pizza, ignoring all the half-drunk admirers trying to get closer without setting him off, watching a couple of guys trying to toss a ping pong ball into a cup. _Interesting_ was probably the word he'd use.

Jennifer finally appeared to tap him on the shoulder, and Keith finally broke away from the group, drawing some disappointed groans in the process. Jennifer led Keith toward the wall, which she leaned on with her usual cute practiced smile. "I'm so glad you made it," she told him. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah, it's uh...pretty well put together."

That was a dumb thing to say. They both knew it, but Keith didn't really care. At this point he could dive headfirst into a dumpster and half the school would find it sexy and endearing.

Jennifer giggled. "Thank you. Aren't you going to get some punch?"

"No way, that thing's probably been spiked by ten different people. I need to drive home."

"Ooh, I see. So responsible." She tilted her head to stare up at him. "You want a soda instead? Not spiked, I promise."

He accepted, and she even made a point to open it in front of him just to show him that it wasn't tampered with.

Nobody approached the pair for the rest of the evening, though there were plenty of stares. Keith and Jennifer continued to talk, easily and fondly, and Keith decided that coming here was ultimately worth it.

She kissed him before he left. He kissed her back.

* * *

Somehow Jennifer managed not to get in trouble with her parents and by the beginning of next week, her reputation had skyrocketed as the cool party thrower and Keith's new girlfriend, apparently. Everyone was whispering about it, and Keith's friends were no exception.

"So Keith," Hunk began that morning. "You and Jennifer, huh? I heard about this this morning."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Already? News spreads pretty fast around here."

"Yeah, well, I mean, she's doing a lot of bragging about it herself," Hunk responded. "This morning I saw her with her friends all like, ' _I kissed Keith Kogane at the party! It was sooo hot! We're like totally a thing now!"_

Keith rolled his eyes. "She doesn't talk like that."

"I mean, you get the gist of it."

"Who cares about Keith and Jennifer?" Lance whined. "I got phone numbers from like five different girls. Keith's got nothing on me."

"They were probably all drunk like you, Lance," Keith retorted. "Nobody would give you their number if they were sober."

"You guys went to a party?" Allura finally spoke up, disappointment evident in her tone. " _And_ got drunk?"

The boys all froze, as if their mother had just caught them stealing cookies before dinner time. Hunk immediately pointed to the other two. "They did, not me!"

"Ah, come on, Allura, nothing happened," Lance gave her a grin, trying to shrug it off, but Allura just rubbed her temples.

"For crying out loud, you two," she started. "I'm trying to get our vice principal to trust the student body, and you're all going out and getting drunk. Heck, how is he even supposed to trust _me_ if I'm hanging out with a bunch of partygoers?"

Lance rolled his eyes and leaned toward Keith. "I told you she'd lecture us."

Allura's rant was cut short when Jennifer suddenly appeared, pushing past several people and practically jumping into Keith's arms.

"Hi, Keith!" she squealed in that usual sweet voice. "What are you up to?"

"Jennifer," he replied simply. "I...see you've already told everyone what happened."

The girl looked surprised and bit her lip. "Uh, yeah, I'm sorry," she replied. "I was just excited! You know, about us." She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, then turned to wave at his friends. "Hey Allura. hey guys."

"Hello," Allura responded politely. "I can't say I was expecting this, but, I'm very happy for the two of you."

"Aw, thank you, Allura, that's so nice." Jennifer replied. The bell rang right then, interrupting their conversation. Jennifer took the chance to grab Keith's arm before he left. "Ok, well, I'll see you later."

She kissed him, right there in the middle of the crowded hall, before waving and walking away. Lance was saying something about PDA, but Keith didn't quite register it, as it took him a moment to snap out of his daze.

* * *

Shiro was trudging through the halls after his second class that day, trying not to project just _how_ weary he was. Just a few weeks ago they'd been doing a fine job of trying to convince Lubos that they were mature enough to plan and execute a class camping trip without anyone getting lost. And then that stupid party had happened, and the council had to spend almost a month doing damage control after Lubos lost trust in them and threatened to cancel their plans again. The Jennifer chick who threw the party didn't seem to be showing any remorse about it either, and that just made Shiro even more frustrated.

Of course, there was that _other_ thing that had happened, but Shiro didn't want to think about that. He wasn't jealous. There was no point in being jealous. Shiro had learned that lesson with the other girls Keith had dated. But it certainly didn't help his mood, and he'd specifically asked Pidge and Matt not to bring it up to him. Instead they decided to just bug him about homework and clubs, which he was grateful for.

He stopped just before rounding a corner of a building, deciding to take a break and roll his shoulders. He was about to pull out his phone, when he suddenly heard yelling coming from around the corner. Shiro jumped, hesitating for a second before taking a peek at where the noise was coming from.

Keith's girlfriend was there, along with a couple other girls standing beside her, bristling with anger at a much more timid looking girl with a clipboard.

"I _asked_ you nicely!" Jennifer snapped at her. "What is your problem? Just remove the damn article, there's no reason for it to be there!"

Ah, Shiro recognized the timid girl now. Her name was Maria, she was a journalist for the school newspaper. Seemed sweet and innocent but had a nose for drama. And right now she was just trying to keep her cool while Jennifer screamed at her like a banshee.

"I can't _remove_ an article that's already been published," she replied as calmly as possible.

"Why did you even write it in the first place? It makes me look like a fucking idiot!"

 _"Sorry,"_ Maria said. "I didn't mean it that way. But it was relevant. The article was an _editorial_. It was about how we shouldn't let some students' irresponsibility ruin a chance for everyone else. It's not my fault that you and your party were the prime example of that."

Jennifer was fuming. "You're just trying to make me look like the bad guy!"

"Sorry," Maria repeated, annoyed. "But you know this isn't helping matters for you. Maybe you should, you know, try to fix your mistakes instead of just yelling at people for telling the truth."

"I don't need to fix anything," Jennifer stomped her foot down. "I don't deserve any of this. You know what? I'm gonna keep an eye on the paper from now on, I'm not going to take any of this lying down. You know I've got people behind me, right? You know I'm Keith Kogane's girlfriend, right?"

"Yes, Jennifer, everyone knows."

"Good, because he could _ruin you._ Everyone around here listens to him."

"Got it."

Jennifer didn't seem satisfied, but she'd gotten her point across and was now ready to leave. "Come on, guys."

Shiro took a few steps back, trying to act like he'd just shown up here and hadn't heard any of what had gone down. Jennifer turned the corner and almost bumped into him.

"Oh! Hi, Shiro!" she chirped, already back into her sweet and innocent facade. "How's it going?"

"Fine," Shiro replied, slipping on a fake smile of his own. "You?"

"Oh, I'm good. Just going to get something to eat. I'll see you around, okay?"

"Right. Bye."

After she was gone, Shiro turned the corner at last, but Maria was already gone. Shiro gripped the strap of his backpack and tried not to stomp too hard as he walked. So Keith's girlfriend was actually a self-absorbed attention whore and was just dating him to elevate her own status. Great. Wonderful. Whatever, it was none of his business. Keith was a smart guy, it wouldn't take long for him to notice this himself. Shiro had nothing to do with any of this, but he was still mad because...well, why wouldn't he be?

He managed to calm himself down a little by the time lunch rolled around, if for no other reason than to keep his head on during the student council meeting. But apparently the bad mood of the day had spread, because Allura didn't exactly seem up for the meeting either.

"Alright, so," Allura sighed at the front. "Talking things over with Lubos is going...fine. But it will probably be better once we have a solid plan that we can present to him. Bea, I'm gonna need you to decide on the campsite soon so we can make the reservation, and Rax, you're working on budgeting. Shiro and I will continue talking to the faculty and discussing transportation. You guys can text us if you have anything else to ask about. Does that sound okay?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good," said Allura. "Also, dance committee, the Halloween Dance event is in two weeks, have you got everything ready to go?"

"Yep! We'll start selling tickets tomorrow."

"That's good to hear," Allura forced a smile. "I guess that's everything for today, so you're free to go."

The council filed out, and Shiro stayed behind to help Allura gather everything up.

He hesitated for a second, then asked, "Hey, uh, are you okay? You see a little off."

Allura turned to him in surprise, but shrugged. "Well, I mean...yeah. There's been something that's bugging me, but it's kinda personal."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"I guess so. It's about my friend-about Keith. You know him, right?"

Shiro faltered and cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, of course I know Keith."

"Ok, well, he's dating Jennifer Moreno, and...I don't know, she just bothers me," Allura's frown deepened. "I mean, I don't want to sound like anyone's mom, but she seems like a bad influence. She asked him out by inviting him to a party when her parents weren't home, for crying out loud! I just. I don't know. She bugs me."

Shiro listened intently, pressing his lips together as she went on, choosing his words carefully. "Well, have you actually talked to Keith about it?"

"No," she sighed. "I don't want to make him unhappy. And besides, I probably only don't like her because of her party thing that messed up our plans but...aside from that, she hasn't really done anything _wrong_..."

"Well," Shiro stopped, hesitated, and continued with a lower voice. "I don't really want to get too into this, but I did run into Jennifer earlier today and I don't think you're entirely wrong."

Allura's eyes widened at this and she leaned forward, prompting him to continue.

"She was really mad at this girl who writes for the paper because of an article, and it sounded like she was threatening her. She just randomly brought up that she's Keith's girlfriend and said that she'd tell him to 'ruin' her, in her own words."

Allura cringed. "What the hell, that is...disgusting." Now she'd gone from slightly off to ansty, thinking the whole thing over. "You know that actually makes so much sense? She's always just...making out with him in front of everyone, way more than normal." She then turned to grab her stuff and headed toward the door as quickly as she could. "Thank you so much for telling me, I'm going to go talk to Keith."

"No problem-but you didn't hear this from me, okay?"

She gave him a thumbs up and then left him alone in the room.

Shiro was left wondering what the heck he'd just done. He hated gossip. And sabotaging Keith's relationships was never something that had even crossed his mind. He definitely would have never done it with any of Keith's past girlfriends. But he couldn't say he regretted this. This girl was bad news, so there was nothing wrong with nudging one of Keith's friends to get involved, right?

* * *

 **Next: Halloween Dance!**


	5. Chapter 5: Halloween Dance

Jennifer was tapping her foot impatiently as she watched the girl in front of her dig through her wallet for cash. "Hurry up, Joanne, I'm starving."

"You should have brought your own fucking money from home," Joanne snapped, pulling out a dollar and holding it close.

"Don't curse at me!" Jennifer sneered and snatched the dollar from her hand. "You're the one who tried to rat me out about Kevin's homework! This is my way of _forgiving_ you!"

"By making me pay for your lunch?"

"Uh, would you rather I tell my boyfriend and his buddies about how you reenact rituals from your fictional stories? Because they would never let you live that down. You're getting off easy."

Joanne clamped her mouth shut, and glared at the ground as she shoved her wallet back into her pocket. "Fine, whatever," she finally grumbled, whirling around to leave. "Take the fucking lunch money, I don't care."

"Bye bye, Joanne!" Jennifer called after her sweetly. "If you keep cooperating, maybe I can convince Keith to get you some free dance tickets!"

"What free dance tickets?"

Jennifer jumped, but then smiled widely at Keith as he stopped next to her and threw her arms around him. "Hi Keith, sweetie! What took you so long?"

"I had to talk to a teacher about something," Keith murmured. "Uh, why were you talking about free tickets to that girl? I can't get any free tickets."

Jennifer blinked but the smile didn't leave her face. "Oh! Yeah, I know that, babe. I was just joking with my friend about something." She giggled. "Anyway, are you hungry? We could go buy some lunch."

"Sure, but can we wait for the others first? Allura told me they were on their way."

"Yeah, no problem."

The two of them made their way to a nearby tree, waiting for Keith's friends to show up so they could go into the cafeteria for lunch. Jennifer clung onto his waist like she always did, resting her head on his shoulder as he looked down at his phone. She was like that, Keith had noticed. A little clingy, a little overbearing. But he didn't know how to feel about it. Not to mention their conversation a minute ago had been...odd.

When Allura showed up, followed closely by Lance and Hunk, Keith could tell something was different. They carried an almost aggressive aura about them, the same one that made Allura simultaneously loved and feared around the school when he'd first met her.

"Sorry, Jennifer," she began cooly. "But do you think we can borrow Keith for a second? We have something we need to talk with him about."

Jennifer looked like she was going to protest, but Allura levelled her with a stare, so she just smiled and said she'd be waiting.

The three of them pulled a confused Keith behind a wall. Allura started talking first.

"So, Keith, how are things going with the two of you?"

Keith frowned, putting his hands in his pockets with a shrug. "Eh. Dunno. I thought she seemed nice but now it all feels so...fake. And she's clingy. And she always just wants to kiss me in the halls."

Allura raised an eyebrow. "So, you don't think it's working out?"

"Nah. I think I'm going to break it off with her soon. I just don't know when."

"Well that's a relief," Lance piped up. "We were about to tell you to dump her because she's a bitch."

Keith was taken aback. Lance never called a pretty girl a _bitch_ unless she was truly awful. Jennifer wasn't _that_ bad, Keith had figured they just weren't compatible. "What are you talking about?"

"Bro, the girl isn't who she seems," Lance told him. "Allura told us that she threatened a school journalist. _Threatened_ a _journalist!_ With humiliation! You don't _do_ that!"

"Yeah," Hunk agreed. "And every time I see her in my classes she's always bragging about you. And not in the good way like, ' _my boyfriend is so awesome,'_ but more like ' _I'm dating the popular guy so you'd better worship the ground I walk on.'_ She's using you for attention, man."

Using you. _Using_.

"Keith," Allura began, gentler this time. "I'm sorry, I know it seems like we're being forceful, but we're your friends and we care. And since you're not that into her anyway, you're not upset with us for this, right?"

The image of Jennifer promising a girl free dance tickets on his behalf reappeared in Keith's mind.

 _Using you._

"Keith...?"

Keith looked up from the floor again to meet their eyes. He unclenched the fists that he hadn't even noticed he'd made, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "No," he finally replied. "I'm not upset. Thanks for letting me know, you guys." And then he turned and went back in the direction he came, leaving the others confused.

"So, you're going to dump her, right?" Lance asked.

"Not yet," Keith muttered. "If she wants attention, she'll fucking get it." He turned back to look at them briefly. "Hey, do you guys mind asking around about some other shitty things she's done? I need them for something. Thanks."

They all blinked again as he left.

"Oh man, he's gonna do something stupid," Hunk declared. "And I wanna see it."

Meanwhile, Jennifer was waiting impatiently when Keith returned to her with a smile.

"Hey Jen," he began, seemingly out of nowhere. "I've been meaning to ask, do you wanna be my date to the Halloween Dance?"

Pidge and Matt were walking next to Shiro on the night of the dance, dressed up in their most ridiculous costumes and striding up to the building excitedly. Shiro, who was dressed relatively normally, ran a hand through his hair but smiled at them at they walked.

"Thanks for keeping me company, you guys," he said.

"Yeah, no problem man," Matt replied. "We figured if you absolutely have to come and see Keith with his girlfriend, then you shouldn't face it alone."

Shiro winced. "Can we maybe not talk about Keith?"

Pidge smoothed down the ruffles on her dress and looked up at Shiro curiously. "So, like, does being VP mean that you have to be at _every_ ASB event?"

"More or less," Shiro chuckled. "It's a good excuse to go to the fun events. No one looks at you weird for not having a date."

"Aw," Matt pouted. "And here I thought you were bringing _us_ along as your dates."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Everything seemed to be going normally when they got inside. Students dancing, or getting some snacks, sweet-talking their dates, some were trying to grind on each other before getting stopped by the adults, the usual stuff. Pidge and Matt eagerly headed to the snack bar right away with Shiro in tow, snickering at all the cheesy Halloween-themed food.

It was all going pretty well...until, of course, Keith and Jennifer inevitably showed up.

Jennifer was clutching Keith's arm tightly, looking smug as hell and completely aware that people were watching them enter (why hasn't Keith broken up with her yet?) and Keith...well, Keith looked great as usual, hardly even wearing a costume and staring straight ahead with an oddly determined expression.

Shiro gulped, his throat feeling dry as he watched the couple walk to the refreshment table and start talking. Luckily, Pidge appeared at his side to save him, offering a cup of soda and a friendly smile.

"Hey," Pidge drew Shiro's attention with a nudge. "You said you wouldn't think about him, right? Go find someone to dance with or something, it's a party."

Shiro grinned, as he took the cup from her. "Thanks Pidge. Not so sure about dancing though, I'm not the best at it."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Who cares if you're good or not? It's called a dance, what's the point of coming here if you don't _dance?"_ She grabbed his arm. "You know what? Forget the soda and dance with me. I'm gonna get you out of your funk."

They ended up having more fun than expected, and by the time the party was reaching its peak, Shiro felt like he'd more or less forgotten about Keith and any other problems he might have had.

Of course, Keith wouldn't be Keith if he didn't remind everyone of his existence in the most over-the-top way possible. Shiro didn't even notice him climbing up alone onto the stage where the band was, and somehow convincing them to hand over the mic. But next thing everyone knew, the music had suddenly stopped and Keith was addressing everyone with that same determined expression from before.

"So," Keith began, not even bothering with a greeting. "I'm aware that I have a pretty strong presence around here, so I feel like there's something I should tell you all. I'd like to draw some _attention_ to my girlfriend who's with me today, Jennifer Meruno. Now you all probably know her as this sweet girl who throws cool parties when her parents aren't home. However, as I've spent more time with her, I've noticed that some things are a little...off. So I've compiled a list of some of the _nice_ and _cool_ things she did while I've been dating her."

Shiro's mouth dropped open as it dawned on him what was happening here. Everyone else seemed to be catching on as well, with Jennifer herself going pale in the middle of the room, but nobody was making any move to stop him. _Oh. My God._

Keith grabbed a piece of paper that Lance was handing him and, without missing a beat, started reading the list out loud to the whole crowd. "She talked down to a group of student council members when they told her that her actions were about to cost us a class field trip. She constantly uses the fact that she's dating me as a bragging tool and status symbol, she harassed someone on the school newspaper and threatened to sic me on them like I'm her dog, forcibly took another student's homework and claimed it as her own with the threat of ruining his reputation, forced a classmate to pay for her lunch, and even tried to talk her way out of a detention by using me, you guessed it, as a status trophy."

He paused, fury visible in his eyes but still remaining calm. "I'm telling you this because, with the influence I have, I feel that it's kind of my civic duty to give you a heads up and warn you: _don't fucking date Jennifer Meruno._ She is not a sweetheart. She will _use_ you, and you'll regret every damn moment you spend in her presence." Keith finally dropped his sarcastically professional attitude and brought the mic closer to his mouth. "That's it for my public service announcement, thank you all for listening-Jennifer, I'm sorry, but I'm dumping you now. Good like finding someone to drive you home."

And with that, he handed the mic back to the band and walked calmly off the stage.

There was a moment where the whole room was is a state of shocked silence. Then, everything erupted into chaos.

Students crowded around both Keith and Jennifer, yelling incoherently while the flustered adults tried to break it up. Jennifer was screeching something at Keith's back, but he ignored her as he marched toward the door, his friends tailing behind him and whooping at him joyfully.

Pidge and Matt were going absolutely insane. "Holy shit, Shiro, your boyfriend is a madman! I can't tell if you have the best or worst taste in the world, oh my god! What a crazy badass!"

Shiro, on the other hand, didn't move. He was still in his open mouthed state, watching Keith burst out of the building in slow motion and falling even more hopelessly in love. He didn't even care right now that this incident would end up being another bad mark on the student body's reputation. Keith was _amazing_.

When the next week rolled around, one message was clear to the students and even some faculty: _don't fucking mess with Keith Kogane._

Keith was aware that people were staring more than usual, and for the most part, he took it in stride. He didn't care what people thought, he'd been hurt and Jennifer deserved exactly what she got. Rumor has it that she'd had to beg a chaperone to drive her home and hadn't left her house ever since.

His friends were still celebrating Keith's little victory, Allura was lightly scolding him about possibly being another stain on the student body's reputation, but still seemed proud despite it. Lance and Hunk were still ecstatic about the whole thing, congratulating him and retelling the story more times than necessary. Everywhere else was either in awe or terrified of him now, or maybe both. But in spite of it all, Keith couldn't bring himself to feel quite as satisfied as everyone else. He was still angry.

Keith wasn't stupid, he knew that people out there could be vile and selfish and manipulative. But now, with all the new attention and popularity than he wasn't used to, he'd somehow dropped his guard, and he hated it. He'd let himself believe that those days were behind him. After the first guy, he thought he was smart enough to determine who was honest and who wasn't. Apparently, he'd been wrong.

He had a lot of thinking to do. Perhaps it was time to go back and reconsider some old decisions.

 **Next: A group project~**


	6. Chapter 6: Group Project

It took a few weeks, but eventually all the commotion over the Halloween Dance had died down, and everyone fell back into their usual boring routines. Shiro and Matt were snoozing in their seats, waiting for class to start, and as soon as the bell rang Ms. Ryner wasted no time getting right down to business.

"Okay, so I've put you all into groups of three," the teacher announced, pulling up a slide with their names on it. "Each group will be presenting on one specific system in the human body. Your job is to create a simulation that will accurately explain how the system works in detail. I'll give you a handout with the rubric on it, but for now, get into your groups first."

Matt opened one eye to take a look at the slide, scanning for his name and grinning when he found it. "Hey dude," he turned to Shiro. "Check it out, we're in the same group."

Shiro nodded slowly, but he didn't seem quite as relaxed as he had been mere seconds ago. He was staring straight at the board and looked considerably paler. Matt frowned and turned to see what he was looking at. That's right, there would be a third person in their group, wasn't there? Who was it?

Oh. Oh _no_. Of _course_ it had to be him.

Keith was in front of them within seconds, coolly dropping his backpack on the floor and sitting down to face them. "Hey."

"Hey," Matt replied, eyes sliding over to see how Shiro was doing.

"Haha. Uh. Hey," Shiro managed. Matt was proud of him.

Unfortunately, Shiro was already avoiding eye contact with Keith as much as possible. Matt rolled his eyes, and just grabbed the handout from Ms. Ryner as she handed it to them.

Nervous System. Yeah, he was definitely seated next to one of those right now.

Meanwhile, Shiro was busy trying to think of ways he could weasel out of this like he did with the talent show. This was really dumb, he should be happy to be put in a group with his crush, and he would be if it wasn't for his complete certainty that he would make a fool of himself. He would like to retain _some_ dignity in Keith's eyes, as unfortunately the only way to do that was to stay as far away from him as possible.

It's just a group project, Shiro told himself as he tried to breathe. Completely professional and normal. There's no reason to freak out.

Keith was looking over the handout with a frown. "How are we supposed to simulate this?"

"Shouldn't be too complicated," Matt replied. "Just two nerve cells sending messages to each other. We could make those easily."

"So, what, like a model?"

"Yeah sure, that will go over well with these high school students," Matt snickered. "We make a model of two long sticks shooting stuff at each other, if you catch my drift."

Shiro caught Matt wiggling his eyebrows at him and immediately felt the desire to run to the bathroom and drown himself in a toilet.

Keith smirked. "Well they'd definitely remember that."

They spent about five minutes discussing the project before Ms. Ryner called for everyone to go back to their original seats-but not before exchanging contact information.

Shiro's eyes were burning holes into his own phone as it sat in Keith's hands, and the other boy was casually entering his phone number in.

"You guys can text me later," Keith stated, handing Shiro's phone back to him and leaving to go back to his own seat.

Shiro stared at the phone for a second, then slowly slid it in his pocket and sat back. The lights turned off and the teacher began her lecture. Shiro took the opportunity to try and calm down.

Matt we leaning toward him with an amused grin. "How are you holding up?" He whispered.

"Surviving."

"You got his phone number~"

Shiro glared at him. "It's not like that."

"Still, if you ever wanna talk to him about anything other than school, now you can."

Shiro rolled his eyes and looked forward. "Assuming I'll be able to talk to him about school," he muttered bitterly. "How the fuck am I supposed to get through this project?"

Matt scoffed, grabbing Shiro's arm to get his attention once more. "Listen Shiro," he snapped, serious all of a sudden. "Keith or no Keith, you'd better not shirk this project, okay? I'm not risking my grades just because of your raging hormones."

"Ok, jeez, I wasn't going to." Shiro snapped, pulling his arm away. "Don't tell me I'm not taking things seriously when you're the one making innuendos about a damn science project."

Matt leaned on his backpack. "You're lucky we didn't get the reproductive system," he murmured. "Anyway, wake me up when the lecture ends, will you?"

* * *

Pidge usually didn't mind being small, but there were times when it was kind of an inconvenience. Like when her English teacher made them bring a bunch of crap to class that she had to carry back and forth from her locker in her tiny arms. Which she was doing now. Or when some hilarious guys bigger than her decided to give her a push, sending her toppling over under the weight of the box. Which was happening now.

The large box flew forward out of Pidge's hands as she reached out to break her fall. People in the crowded hall yelped, jumping out of the way, as the boy who tripped her snickered and took the opportunity to run.

"Hey man, what the hell was that?" Someone snapped at him, but otherwise, he got away without consequence.

Pidge didn't really care. She merely sat up and grumbled to herself, gathering her stuff and checking to see if anything was broken. People were staring down at her pitifully but she ignored them.

Next thing she knew, someone had crouched down and was helping her pick things up. Pidge looked up in surprise to see a smiling boy with blue eyes and brown hair, recognizing him as one of Keith's friends. What was his name again? Larry?

"Hey," the boy began when he noticed her looking. "You okay?"

"I guess so," she muttered. "You don't have to help me."

"Pssh, don't say that," he replied. "I'm not gonna leave you on the floor by yourself. That guy was an asshole, I hate seeing people act like that to the younger kids."

Pidge raised an eyebrow, but allowed him to continue helping her.

"Need help carrying that to your locker?"

"Something tells me you'll help no matter what I say."

He laughed, and she couldn't help but smile as she handed him a few of the things she was carrying. "You're a pretty smart girl," he told her. "What's your name?"

"Katie. But everyone just calls me Pidge."

"Nice to meet you Pidge, I'm Lance," he flashed her a million dollar smile as he spoke. "I'm a senior here. You liking Altea High so far? You know, aside from that guy."

Pidge squinted up at him in annoyance. "Lance, I'm not a freshman."

Lance blinked, then looked away sheepishly. "Ohhh, sorry, my bad. Are you a sophomore?"

"I'm a _senior_ , like you."

Lance's jaw dropped and he looked her over. "Wait, really?"

Pidge rolled her eyes. She was used to this. "I know, it's hard to believe."

"Wait, shoot-sorry, I think I remember you now! You're in my Econ class, I think. With Mr. Throk?"

"No. You might be thinking of my brother Matt."

"Oh, are you like, twins?"

"You sure ask a lot of questions for a guy I just met."

Lance frowned. "Hey, I was just curious."

Pidge sighed again. "He's older. I just skipped a couple grades when I was little, so here I am."

Lance blinked. "Damn." They reached Pidge's locker and stopped, as she opened it up and started piling stuff in. "I think I get it now," he continued. "That guy who tripped you-he was jealous."

"Yeah, that's what everyone says." She closed her locker and turned to thank him, but it seemed that Lance's attention had already been drawn by someone else, whom he was smiling at as he waved her over.

Allura. Of course.

"Good morning, my princess," Lance greeted her semi-ironically. "How are you doing on this fine day?"

Allura rolled her eyes. "Lance, what are you doing here? I thought we were going out to the quad."

"I was just hanging out with my new friend Pidge," Lance patted her on the head as if to point her out. "She's like, a prodigy."

Allura turned to Pidge, and a polite smile appeared on her face. "Oh, I know you! I've seen you hanging out with Shiro."

"Yeah, he's my friend."

"Oh, damn," Lance piped up. "Smart people stick together, huh?"

As do the pretty people, Pidge thought, but she didn't say it out loud.

"Well, Pidge, if you see him later," Allura began. "Do you mind giving this to him? I haven't been able to catch him and he needs it before the next meeting." She handed Pidge a piece of folded paper.

"Sure," Pidge took the paper and stuffed it in her pocket, not in the mood to continue this conversation. "I actually have to get going now. Thanks for your help, Lance."

"No problem! See you around, Pidge!"

Pidge hurried out of the hall as fast as she could toward the quad, where she found Shiro and Matt waiting for her.

"Hi," the girl greeted. She took the paper out of her pocket and handed it to Shiro. "Her highness asked me to give this to you."

Shiro looked over the paper in confusion while Matt turned to her in surprise. "You mean Allura?" Her brother asked. "I can't believe you actually talked to her."

Pidge hoisted herself up to sit on top of the table and shrugged. "Eh, not really. I was mostly talking to her buddy Lance. He helped me carry my box of shit. The idiot thought I was a freshman, but other than that he was nicer than I expected."

"I don't blame him, you look like you're still in kindergarten."

"As opposed to me, who looks like he's 37," Shiro muttered. He folded the paper back up and rubbed his head . "God, okay, looks like we need to have another meeting about camping trip logistics. I'm really not in the mood for this."

Matt smirked cheekily and turned toward Pidge. "Shiro's a little frazzled," he explained. "Because this morning we got paired in a group project with Keith."

Pidge's eyes widened and she burst into giggles. "Are you serious? Oh man, you've got to tell me how this goes!"

"Absolutely," Matt replied, ignoring the death glare Shiro was giving him. "I'll be sure to get all the details. Hey Shiro, I hope you're ready to visit your crush's house, because we will totally be going over there at some point."

"Are you serious," Shiro groaned.

"Definitely! I _have_ to see how you're going to react to being in his bedroom."

"What are you, twelve?" Shiro gave him a slight shove and they both continued laughing. Once again, Shiro was seriously reconsidering his choice in friends.

* * *

Hunk had left them today to go have lunch with Shay, and being unable to spend more than three seconds alone together without fighting, Lance and Keith had instead decided to wait outside the student council room like a pair of impatient puppies. Allura was giving some kind of speech inside, and Lance was leaning on the window, trying to get her attention.

Keith looked up from his phone and rolled his eyes. "Are you going to be like that the whole time?"

"I just want her to look at me," Lance whined. "Are you going to keep being grumpy all day?"

"I'm not being grumpy," Keith muttered. "I'm just not a fan of you leaning so far forward and sticking your ass out to the middle of the hall."

"Pssh, my ass is amazing though, you're just jealous."

Keith would have rolled his eyes into his skull if he could. "I don't care. Quit standing like that, it's disgusting."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it-! Ok, you know what?" Keith rubbed his currently forming headache away. "I'm not in the mood. I've got way too much stuff to think about."

"Not my problem, you're the one who brought it up first."

Meanwhile, inside, Shiro stood next to Allura as she continued down her list of topics she needed to talk about with the group. Almost everything had been figured out, they just needed the final okay from Lubos, which, if the document that Allura had given him earlier was any indication, would not be easy.

"Alright, well, I guess that does it for today," Allura finally sighed. "Go try to relax a bit before next time."

As was the usual, everyone filed out of the room, and Allura turned to Shiro with a hopeful grin on her face. "Ready to face Lubos again?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Shiro replied. "He can't say no again, we've basically got the whole senior class rallying against him."

"Yeah, I hope you're right."

Shiro was about to say more, when suddenly the person standing outside and pressing his face to the window caught his attention. "Uh, Allura? I think someone's here to see you."

Allura looked behind her and sighed. "Oh my god, I can't believe them. Get in here, you idiots."

She waved them inside, and Lance practically jumped to his feet before flying through the door, followed by Keith.

Oh boy. Shiro turned around and pretended to sort through some papers.

"Allura!" Lance sing-songed. "Thank goodness, I thought I'd drop down and die if I had to wait with Keith any longer."

"Where's Hunk?" Allura asked.

"He's with Shay," said Keith. "We got bored."

"Ah, I see. And you needed me to keep you from ripping each other's heads off."

Lance snickered. "We appreciate you always stepping in to stop out fights, mother."

"Call me mother again and I'll throw you out the window."

Shiro couldn't help but snort at that one, which of course caught Keith's attention because the universe hated him.

"Oh, hey, Shiro," Keith walked over and stood in front of him. "I've been meaning to ask-are you free on Saturday?"

 _What?_ Shiro nearly dropped his papers and suddenly felt faint.

"So we can meet up for the project," Keith continued. "It's the only free day I've got-sorry, I would have texted you but it turns out I've already used up my data."

 _Oh_. "Uhh. Sure. Saturday works. I'll tell Matt."

Keith smiled. "Cool. See you later."

Shiro didn't really pay attention to what happened next after Keith left with his friends. As he was used to by this point, he was just trying to keep his heart from flying out of his chest.

* * *

Shiro should not be this jittery over going to someone's apartment for a project. He was just annoyed that Matt had gone and arranged this with Keith and didn't tell him until the last second. Yeah, that's it. He was just cross with Matt, nothing else.

"Take a deep breath, Shiro," Matt told him in the elevator. "This is a good thing. Keith'll get to see how smart you are up close, and you'll get to know him better."

Shiro turned to him almost pitifully. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, man. Look, you're a great guy and a lot of people like you. I bet Keith's even heard about you from Allura. There is no reason for him to think badly of you. You'll be fine."

"Okay, if you say so." Shiro sighed. "I just feel like all of this is pointless. He probably doesn't even like guys."

"Well, we won't know unless we go find out, will we?" Matt paused. "Hey, want me to conveniently remember that I've got somewhere else to be?"

Shiro gave him the most desperate scared puppy look. "No."

"Pff. I'm joking. Can't let you ruin the project."

They reached Keith's floor and quickly found the apartment they were looking for. Matt gave him an encouraging nod, and Shiro rung the doorbell. A moment later, Keith opened the door.

Shiro tried to remember Matt's words as he tried not to avoid eye contact with Keith this time. Difficult considering his current heart rate. Keith looked absolutely endearing with comfy clothes and slightly mussed up hair. Shiro's mouth went dry. But he managed to exchange greetings and step inside without running away, so that was a start.

"You can put your stuff on the couch," Keith told them casually. "And set up on the table-oh, and help yourself to whatever's on the fridge, I'm just gonna go get my stuff."

They obeyed, pulling out their supplies and heading to the table. Matt found a bunch of sodas in the fridge and grabbed a few for all three of them. Shiro took a moment to take a glance around the apartment. It was fairly small, but not cramped- _cozy_ , maybe. It was slightly disorganized but overall nice. When Shiro had pictured going to the popular boy's place, he'd thought of a huge fancy penthouse, not really anything like this.

Keith returned with his stuff and sat down. "You guys sure you don't want food? I'd probably get some now before Coran comes home with all his weird shopping stuff."

"We're good, thanks," Matt replied. "Who's Coran?"

"My foster dad. He likes to experiment with his cooking a lot." Keith took a sip of his soda, continuing on as if he hadn't just dropped a huge bombshell about himself. "So, uhh...should we start?"

Matt and Shiro exchanged a quick glance but remained smiling. "Sure." They opened up their books, flipping to the section they needed, and Matt started summarizing...sort of.

"Okay," Matt began. "So electrical impulses travel through the axon of the neuron, and then one it reaches the synapse, where the signal goes from electrical to chemical, and is transported via neurotransmitters, enclosed in vesicles. They float into the cytoplasm and are intercepted by calcium ions-"

Shiro looked up at Matt, raising an eyebrow at his rambling and turned to see how Keith was doing. He almost burst out laughing. Keith's face was twisted in the most adorably confused frown, and he was staring at Matt like he was some kind of alien speaking a foreign language.

Matt put down the book and looked at them both matter-of-factly. "We good?"

"No," Keith replied. "You think you can say that all again, but more simple?"

Shiro snickered into his palm.

"Ok, so the electrical impulse becomes chemical and then is moved by the neurotransmitters into the synapse," Matt repeated. "The neurotransmitters are enclosed in vesicles, and while they're moving through the synapse, they're intercepted by the calcium ions that create two membranes-"

"You're just saying the same thing again!" Keith snapped, getting frustrated. "What the heck is a _vesicle_?"

"It's a membrane that sits around the neurotransmitter-look, just read the book, it explains it just like in class-"

"We didn't do this in class yet!"

"Oh. Sorry, I usually fall asleep in class so I wasn't sure."

"Okay, stop." Shiro finally interrupted. "Matt, buddy, you're a genius, but I think you need to pull it back for us normal people." He left Matt to pout while he turned toward a frustrated Keith. "Basically there's a space between the nerve cells, and the message can't get through on it's own. So it's put into a package and shipped across."

Keith blinked at him, then his eyes lit up. "Oh! Yeah, that makes a lot more sense, holy shit."

Matt looked scandalized. "Dude, you just missed a whole bunch of important details!"

"It's a simulation, it doesn't have to be super detailed," Keith retorted. "Or at the very least it should be understandable. Thank goodness you're here to translate, Shiro, or I'd be completely lost."

Shiro froze for a second, as if he just remembered that Keith was his crush and realized that he'd just done something to help him. Shiro hid his goofy grin behind his hand and stared down at the book. "Yeah, sure, no problem."

Matt was still pouting, but settled for an annoyed mutter as he turned back to the book and wondered how many other people needed translations to understand him.

At that moment, the apartment door opened again, and a tall, ginger haired man with a mustache burst through. "I'm home!" The man cried jovially, swinging his shopping bags into the living room. He stopped at the door, staring over at their table. "Oh, hello. Keith, who are these two?"

"Shiro and Matt, from my class," Keith lazily waved a hand at them. "Guys, this is Coran."

"A pleasure," Coran chirped, as he continued moving about the apartment. "Have you boys had lunch yet? I was just about to get started on making some."

Keith didn't give them a chance to answer. "Uh, we're fine, Coran, thanks."

Matt and Shiro exchanged another look but said nothing. Keith waved the whole thing off and turned back to their work. "So, anyway, back to the package simulator..."

They continued working for a couple more hours, the noise of Coran's cooking behind them, and to Shiro's disappointment there weren't any more tiny epiphany moment between him and Keith. They eventually decided to take a quick break, and Shiro remained near the table to stretch a bit while the other two got up to grab something from their backpacks.

"Sorry I yelled at you earlier," Keith said to Matt. "I tend to get angry kind of easily."

"No worries," Matt replied. "I was getting carried away anyway. Good thing we've got Shiro."

"Yeah, he's..." Keith paused before shrugging. "He's cool."

Matt raised an eyebrow, staring at Keith almost calculatingly, then swirled his soda around thoughtfully. "So, uhhh...we haven't really had a chance to just talk casually. How are you? Anyone special in your life?"

Keith was confused, but still frowned and shook his head. "After Jennifer? Nah, I'm really not looking for a relationship right now. I've got some stuff to think over first."

Matt clicked his tongue, subtly glancing at Shiro who was chatting with Coran. "That makes sense. Must be nice, though, being popular, and getting all that attention from girls...and...sometimes guys..."

Keith was suddenly very uncomfortable with this conversation. "Sure," he muttered, turning to signal that he was going back to the table.

Coran had taken Shiro to the kitchen, showing him what he'd made and was probably about to use him as a guinea pig. Shiro, ever so polite, had accepted, and Keith felt his heart sink to his stomach. "Coran, wait-!"

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Shiro put the spoon in his mouth and immediately his expression fell, and he had to go sit down. Coran asked him what was wrong. Keith slid both of his hands down his face and ran to the kitchen to get a glass of water for the poor guy.

"It's bad enough he already hates me, now Coran goes and tries to poison him," Keith muttered. He filled up the cup from the sink, glancing over to where Shiro was sitting.

Matt had rushed over to his side. "Shiro, man, are you okay? Do you need medical attention?"

"'M fine," Shiro mumbled. "It's, just...a bit...spicy."

"Really?" Coran asked. "I thought I'd pulled back on the chili spice this time. Maybe it was the cumin..."

Keith sighed and reached over Shiro's shoulder to place the cup on the table. "Coran, maybe you should test your new dishes on yourself before giving them to guests."

"What do you mean? I _did_ taste it! It was fine!"

Keith ignored him, instead placing a reassuring had on Shiro's shoulder as the other glugged the water down. He managed to get through the cup without choking, with the rest of them trying to comfort him as he insisted that he was okay. And then he just froze, realizing that he was being touched, and his eyes moved up the hand on his shoulder until he was staring up at Keith.

Keith smiled at him, apologetic and awkward.

Shiro blinked, eyes wide. For a second Keith was worried that he would just look away from him like he always did, but after a second, Shiro smiled back.

* * *

"Congratulations," Matt sighed, patting Shiro on the back as they walked back into the elevator. "Keep it up and you might be able to hold his hand by January."

"Shut up," Shiro responded, but the silly grin was still on his face. "Nothing even happened."

"You had a conversation with the guy and impressed him with your wit," Matt countered. "I count that as a success. Pidge and I should take you out to dinner and celebrate."

Shiro laughed. "Stop, I really don't want to get my hopes up..."

Matt rolled his eyes, not having the heart to tell him about his failed "interrogation" of Keith earlier. He just gave Shiro another pat on the back and let him continue daydreaming with that huge smile on his face again.

* * *

 **Next: Keith reveals a secret**


	7. Chapter 7: Triumphs and Revelations

With winter break having come and gone, the council was more or less on crunch time. They had everything ready for a camping trip in April-reservations made, permissions slips printed-all they needed now was the final approval.

It was early in the morning, both Allura and Shiro running on caffeine as they stood outside Lubos' office. Shiro was holding a small stack of documents in his arms, and Allura was doing the same. She turned to him with a small smile. "Ok, here we go," she said.

Shiro gave her an encouraging nod. "We got this."

Allura stepped forward and slowly opened the door, revealing the comfortable looking office that smelled like spring flowers.

Lubos was already there, seated at his desk with a cup of coffee and typing away at his laptop. He smiled politely at the two teens as they walked in. "Good morning! You're right on time. Have a seat."

They obeyed. Allura flashed a bright smile at him and sat up straight. "Good morning, Mr. Lubos. How's everything going?"

"I'm doing well, thank you," the vice principal replied. "Now, you two are back to talk about the camping trip again, right?"

"That's right," said Shiro. "We've got everything set up, all we need now is your okay."

Lubos sighed. "I have to ask, why is this camping trip so important to you that you keep coming back here after I've expressed my concerns several times?"

"That's just it," Allura responded. "We've taken your concerns into account and used them to improve. Everything you were worried about has been thought about and fixed by the student council."

Lubos raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, I'd love to see these solutions you've come up with."

Almost automatically, Shiro and Allura both placed their documents and notes on the table, pushing the, forward toward him. Lubos raised an eyebrow at them, but picked them up and began flipping through. The teens both watched his face, shifting from doubtful to thoughtful, nodding a few times.

"You know, I've gotta say," Shiro began. "I'm actually really glad that you're getting more involved with student programs-we've been really upping our game with these events ever since."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Allura agreed.

Lubos didn't look up, but Shiro could see him smiling. "Ah, now you kids are just trying to butter me up."

"No, really," Allura insisted. "This is probably the most well thought out event we've ever had."

Lubos nodded, and closed the pile of documents slowly. "Well, it looks like you've got all your bases covered. I commend you two for that. But I'm still a bit worried about how the class might act in a situation like this. Kids your age, they can be unpredictable, and I don't want anything to happen."

"That won't happen," Allura told him. "The whole senior class wants this, and they're all mature young people well on their way to adulthood. I know they'll be on their best behavior."

"And any of those so-called _troublemakers_ you're worried about," Shiro added. "They're...not invited."

Lubos pursed his lips thoughtfully again. "I see. Welllll. I guess I see no reason to say no. So I approve, since you want it so badly. But, I better not see any irresponsibility on this trip, or it will be the last time a large scale field trip will happen again."

Shiro and Allura tried to contain their excitement. "Understood, Mr. Lubos," Shiro said. "Thank you so much."

Lubos nodded simply. "You're welcome. Anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"Not right now, but we'll come right back if we think of something."

"Alright then. You two can go."

Shiro and Allura both stood, thanking him again on their way to the door,

They walked out, poised and professional, until the door closed behind them. Then they both let out a cheer, startling the sleepy students in the hallways, and gave each other an excited high five and a hug.

"Oh, my god, I was shaking so hard!" Allura cried, putting her hands on her head to calm herself down. "I can't believe we actually did that!"

"I know! I kept thinking he'd shut us down again, and it felt like I was still sleeping."

"It's a good thing you didn't fall asleep in there, I would have fired you," she laughed, and shook off the last of her jitters. "Come on, we have to go tell everyone else, get this thing in motion before he can change his mind."

The two of them speed walked down the hallway, where the early students were snoozing against their lockers. Classes would start in just five minutes, so the more important members of the student council would probably be around, dealing with whatever needed to be done.

Allura practically kicked the door to their meeting room open, throwing her arms out triumphantly.

"We did it!" Shiro declared, causing the others in the room to cheer. Allura spared a second to give Romelle a triumphant hug, then got down to business again. "Okay, now it's just a matter of tying everything up. Check with teachers, make sure permissions slips are being sent out and signed, let them know who's definitely not going-"

"-also get a count of how many driver's we've got," Shiro continued. "Because we're going to need a _lot_."

"That's true, convince your parents to chaperone, get student drivers, with big cars. We're almost there, people!"

The bell rang to signal the start of class, and everyone hurried to gather their things, still hyped on the joy and coffee. Shiro and Allura shot each other one more congratulatory smile before setting off to start their school day for real.

* * *

Keith was leaning silently against the locker, watching as Allura chattered excitedly about the camping trip. He couldn't blame her, she'd been working on this for months. He just found it hard to get excited when he had a lot of stuff on his mind.

"Okay, Allura, question," Lance piped up, interrupting her. "Are the sleeping arrangements going to be, like, split up by gender?"

Allura blinked, then frowned. " _Yes_ , Lance, this is a school field trip, what are you expecting?"

"Pffff," Lance looked disappointed. "Come on, what's the point of an overnight senior field trip if you don't get to mess around a little? I mean, just make it easier on yourselves, it's not like you can stop us."

"Lance, please," Allura sighed. "We barely managed to convince Lubos to let us go for a few days, please don't ruin any future trips by 'messing around,' the junior class will never let me hear the end of it."

"Who cares, you're graduating-but okay, if you want to be lawful about it, just start another campaign, I bet the senior class would love it!" He turned to Hunk. "Hunk, you agree with me, right? Co-ed tents with some _private_ sections? Don't you want to spend a night with your girl?"

Hunk and Shay had also been standing quietly nearby, watching this exchange with mild amusement. Hunk merely blinked at the question. "Well, I mean, we can do that outside of the camping trip."

"Hunk!" Shay turned slightly red and smacked his shoulder, making her boyfriend smile innocently at her.

Lance sighed. "Okay, whatever. Keith, what about you? You're popular with girls. You're with me, aren't you?"

Keith just gave him a sidelong glare. "You're the only one who wants this, Lance, I couldn't give less of a shit."

Lance frowned and blew a raspberry at him, but thankfully seemed to give up on the subject at last.

Allura turned to Keith and raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright? You seem awfully on edge."

"Sorry," Keith sighed. "Didn't mean to ruin the mood. I was just...thinking."

"You sure have been doing a lot of that lately, haven't you?" Lance asked. "Guess you actually _do_ have a brain under that mullet of yours!"

Keith narrowed his eyes at him but otherwise ignored the jab. "I've been _thinking_ a lot," he continued, "because of what happened with Jennifer."

"Oh, _her?"_ Hunk asked, making a waving motion with his hand. "Forget about her, man, she doesn't deserve you."

"Yeah, you didn't do anything wrong," Shay agreed. "There's other girls out there, you'll find a way better one."

Keith but his lip. "Yeah, of course. Just cause you have one bad girlfriend, you shouldn't give up on all girls."

"Yeah, of course," Shay agreed.

"So, if someone has one bad boyfriend, you can't give up on all guys, either."

His friends blinked, and Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Uh...yeah...same concept applies."

Keith looked downward and paused, fully aware that they were all staring at him in confusion. "I had a bad boyfriend once."

...ah, okay, so he hadn't approached that as gracefully as he'd hoped. His friends were quiet, and he slowly looked up to see their reactions.

They still looked as confused as before, albeit a little more surprised. "Wait, _what?"_ Lance asked.

"It was a while ago," Keith continued quietly, hurriedly. He was thankful that he and his group had their own personal corner in the hallways where they could talk without anyone noticing. "I was only 15, and when I found out what he was doing, I got mad. Really mad. So I made a dumb decision to just not date any more guys and stick with girls. Obviously, that's...kind of naive, now that I look back on it."

"Whoa, okay, back up," said Lance. "You like guys?"

Keith nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm bi. I just wasn't sure how to bring it up. I've been comfortable dating only girls for the past year, I didn't know how people would take it." He paused. "But, you guys are my friends, I figured you should know at some point or another. Sorry for just randomly dropping it out of the blue, though."

Allura smiled widely and put a hand on his shoulder. "Keith, that's completely fine," she told him. "It's who you are, I'm glad you told us."

"Yeah, don't worry Keith, this is an inclusive environment," Hunk agreed. "And if anyone gives you a hard time about it, we're gonna give them a hard time about their _existence."_

Shay giggled, but nodded.

"I don't think you need to worry, though," said Lance. "I see Plaxum and Florona making out in the middle of the halls all the time. No one bothers them, so you're good."

Keith gave a relieved breath. "Ok. Thanks, guys. I wasn't sure how you'd react."

"No problem," said Allura. "And if you ever introduce us to a cute boy, we'll scrutinize him just as hard as we do with the girls. Equality."

Keith laughed, finally getting into the good mood as the bell rang to go back to class. Allura gave him a hug before they separated, and Keith smiled to himself as he headed down the hallways.

 **Next: Time for a camping trip!**


	8. Chapter 8: Road Trip

_Hectic_ was probably the best word to describe their school the day of the camping trip. The entire senior class, teachers, chaperones, and piles of luggage all gathered in front of the school, trying to organize themselves before leaving. Teachers were checking off names before dismissing each group to go into a car, with the promise to meet up at the campsite that evening. Shiro led Matt and Pidge through the crowd, trying to get to their own group. He felt a surge of pride at seeing how excited everyone was, and how smoothly it was all working out so far-he prayed that it would stay that way the whole way through.

"Keep up, guys," Shiro called behind him. "Allura's waiting for us, we need to try and be the first people there."

Pidge shifted her suitcase over to the other hand with a sigh. "Why are we carpooling with Allura again?"

"Because her car can take seven people and we want to split up the driving to save time," Shiro replied. "It's just a few hours on the road, Pidge, you don't even need to talk to her if you don't want to."

"So," Matt began. "You said we're going with Allura and _all_ her friends?"

"Yes, Matt."

"Including Ke-"

" _Yes, Matt,"_ Shiro snapped. "No need to focus on that, okay? Let's just make sure we get to the site in one piece before so Lubos doesn't cancel the whole council."

Pidge scoffed. "This is gonna be a long ride."

Allura was smiling joyfully when they found her, waiting for them outside her car while her three friends were already inside. She waved to them sweetly, drawing out a shy blush from Matt and an eyeroll from Pidge. She helped them load their luggage into the trunk, then pulled out her keys. "You three don't mind sitting in the back, do you?" she asked.

"Nah, it's fine," said Shiro.

Allura opened the sliding door of her car. "Lance, get out so we can get these three in the back."

Lance paused in whatever he was talking about and climbed out of his seat. "As you wish, my lady." He hopped out onto the sidewalk as Allura pushed the chair forward, and his face lit up when he saw Pidge. "Hey, Pidge, it's you! How's it going? You remember me, right?"

Pidge huffed in amusement and nodded. "Yes, I remember you, Lance. Everything is fine."

"Oh man, this is gonna be great. I'm travelling with not one, but _two_ beautiful ladies," He stood by the door and bowed as if to escort Pidge in as she climbed into the car.

Pidge scoffed and walked past him. "Shut up, Lance, you mistook me for my brother."

Matt snorted as he climbed in after her, and Shiro gave Lance a pat on the shoulder as if consoling him for his failure. Lance simply grumbled to himself and pushed his seat back into place so he could sit down.

Allura then climbed into the driver's seat, settling in and letting out an excited breath. "Alright, is everyone ready to go? Everyone comfortable?" She turned to look over all of her passengers-Shiro, Matt and Pidge in the back, Lance and Hunk in the middle seats, and Keith in the passenger seat next to her-and they nodded. "Okay, Lance, you've got the navigation-"

"Got it!" Lance held up his phone proudly.

"-and Keith, you're in charge of the music. I'm trusting you with this. "

Immediately, Keith started playing some trashy metal song, shooting Allura the most shit-eating grin while she stared him down.

Keith snickered and just switched to some regular pop station, and Allura started the car. "Here we go!"

The teens all cheered, and they were soon on their way.

Not two minutes had passed before Lance exclaimed, "Hey, who wants to play some road trip games?"

"Shouldn't those be saved for when we get to the long stretch?" Hunk asked.

"What, are we supposed to just sit in awkward silence until then? Come on, we've got some newcomers, let's play an icebreaker game or something."

Pidge grinned. "Did you work at a summer camp before or something?"

"Actually, I did," Lance replied. "You can go first. Pidge would you rather...uh, fight one bear or ten snakes?"

Hunk cringed. "Dude, don't _say_ things like that when we're going _camping!_ "

Pidge just snickered. "Snakes, I guess. Could just step on all their heads."

"Wow, edgy. Ok, it's your turn."

Matt leaned over to Shiro. "Is it just me or is this guy really...punchable?"

Shiro laughed. "Just relax, buddy, Pidge can take care of herself."

Matt just grumbled.

They continued on like this for a few more hours, singing and playing games and goofing off, until lunch time. They picked up a few sandwiches from a fast food place and carried them back to the car, and now it was Shiro's turn to drive.

Allura was now sitting in the back with Matt and Pidge, while Shiro was in the driver's seat next to Keith, who was munching on the burger he bought.

As was the usual, Shiro's heartbeat sped up and he had to remind himself how to breathe. He was literally just sitting next to him, eating a sandwich. Shiro hated himself for this, he felt like a silly little middle school girl. At least, he figured, he was no longer as immobile around Keith as he used to be, but one nice interaction at his house while working on a group project didn't mean that Keith was going to fall head over heels for him.

It didn't matter, he just needed to focus on driving. Lance's phone was spouting directions at him, and the others were all messing around in the back again. He could just focus on that instead.

At around 3 pm, they ran into traffic. Still, suffocating traffic that was backed up for miles. The GPS told him they still had 75 more miles to go in this.

"What the heck is going on?" Hunk asked. "Are they evacuating the whole city or something?"

"Must be an accident up ahead," Shiro muttered. "It'll probably loosen up once we get past it."

"Shiro, if you ever need to switch again, just let me know," said Allura.

"Well, if we've got some extra time, maybe we could tell some stories," Lance piped up. "One time I was on a road trip with my family, and the car were so packed together that someone's dog jumped out of a window and right into my lap. Then it peed on my sister. It was hilarious."

Keith, who had been quiet for a while, let out a sigh and leaned against the window. "I'm gonna take a nap," he muttered. "Wake me up if you need me, Shiro."

Shiro's breath hitched slightly. "Sure." He tried not to stare as Keith shifted himself into a more comfortable position, falling asleep rather quickly with his mouth hanging open adorably. Turning back to the crowded road in front of him, he hoped nobody caught him smiling.

Meanwhile, as Lance continued his road trip stories, Pidge was sitting in the back, curled into a ball with a pout. This road trip was already irritatingly long enough, even without the heavy traffic, but now her brother was ignoring her and instead having his own conversation with the most annoying girl Pidge knew. And to make matters worse, they were _giggling._

"Shiro never told me you were so funny," Allura was saying, with that sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

"Ah, well, I mean, most people don't listen to me when I talk," Matt replied with a shy shrug. "Especially not, like, popular people like you."

"Awww, don't say that. You're really interesting. And smart, like your sister. Keep going, what the heck happened at the science fair, anyway?"

Matt continued talking to her with a dumb smile on his face and Pidge gagged. _Et tu, big brother?_ Apparently even he couldn't resist Allura's charms.

It was dark by the time the GPS told them to finally exit into a town nearby. A glance at the clock told Shiro that it was already 11:40 pm. Weird...he never would have guessed the campsite would be _this_ far away. But they hadn't gotten any angry calls from the teachers yet, so they were probably taking just as long to arrive. Almost everyone had fallen asleep at this point, aside from Pidge who was messing on her phone in the back, and Shiro didn't have the heart to wake Allura up and get her to drive again.

But...it seemed like they were currently in the middle of nowhere. And when the GPS announced their arrival, Shiro's unease only grew. This was just some random drug store in the middle of a random town in the middle of nowhere. Shiro picked up the idle phone and turned around. "Guys? Hey guys, wake up."

Gradually, the other teens stirred in their seats and slowly woke up, yawning. "Are we there yet?" Hunk asked tiredly.

"Uh. Apparently. But I'm pretty sure. This is wrong."

Keith had already snapped to attention and frowning at the drugstore in front of them. "What the hell is this?"

"This is where the GPS told me to go," Shiro replied, trying not to notice that Keith sounded annoyed with him. "Hang on, Lance, can you unlock your phone?"

Lance took the phone from him and did that, staring down at it in confusion. "Yeah, I mean, it says we've arrived."

"What are you talking about?" Pidge snapped. "This isn't a campsite!"

"But this is the right address, right? 1195 Kerning Avenue."

Allura and Shiro simultaneously felt their hearts sink. "Lance," Allura began slowly. "The address was 1155 _Curting_ Avenue. Didn't you hear me? You told me you'd gotten it."

Lance's eyes widened and he just said "oh."

"You put in the wrong address?" Keith snapped, still grumpy from just waking up."We've been going the wrong way this whole damn time?"

"Cool your jets, Mullet, I'll just put in the right address now. Maybe it's not that far away." He typed the address in his GPS while everyone waited. Lance stared at his phone. He was pale. He took a second to speak up again. "So, uh. It's 300 miles in the other direction. So. Yeah."

Nobody said anything for a few minutes. Keith spoke up first.

"I'm going to fucking kill you."

 **Next: They need to find a hotel...**


	9. Chapter 9: Stranded

"Hey Ms. Ryner, it's Shiro. Yeah, we're fine, we just got a bit lost. I'd don't know if we can drive all the way to the campsite right now, we're...kind of a ways off. Uh, yeah, I've got six other people with me."

Shiro tiredly held the phone to his ear and turned to look at the rest of the group. They'd all stepped out of the car to stretch their legs while they figured out what to do. Right now it looked like Hunk was keeping Keith and Lance from getting into a fistfight (Keith was insanely grumpy after waking up, Shiro realized), with Pidge helping to some extent. Matt was standing aside trying to comfort Allura, who looked like she was about to cry.

Shiro listed everyone's names off to Ms. Ryner so she could check them off, sliding a hand down his face in exhaustion and frustration.

 _"Okay,"_ the teacher finally said. _"We're going to send someone down there to get you."_

"We're _300 miles_ away from the site," Shiro replied. "I don't think that will work. I thought we could just find a hotel or something to spend the night and then get to the campsite tomorrow."

 _"We can't just leave you without an adult, Shiro."_

Shiro hesitated, then shrugged to himself. "Well, I mean...I'm...technically an adult."

There was a pause, the sounds of shuffling paper, before the teacher answered. _"Oh, I see. You just turned 18 in February. Very clever, but I don't think that's quite enough-"_

"What other choice do we have?" Shiro snapped in annoyance. "Look, we can take care of ourselves. We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon, I promise."

The teacher was quiet for a long time, presumably discussing the situation with the other faculty. Shiro sighed and checked on the others again. They were apparently just as frustrated, arguing over what to do and getting distressingly loud. God, this was the worst.

Ms. Ryner spoke. _"Fine. One night. Keep in contact with us. We're going to have a long talk about this when you get here."_

Shiro's heart sank. "Yes ma'am. Talk to you later." He hung up at last, then groaned as he walked back to where the group was...well, fighting. "Guys."

They didn't acknowledge him. Too much yelling and pointing fingers (mostly at Lance).

"Where the _fuck_ are we supposed to sleep?" Keith snapped. "The fucking car?"

"Forget it, I'd rather sleep on the pavement away from you, mullet face!"

"Yeah, sounds about right since _it's your fault we're here!"_

"I just misheard the address! Allura should have checked before we got so far off course!"

Allura just sniffed and Matt looked scandalized. "How the hell is this _Allura's_ fault?!"

"Guys-" Shiro tried again, to no avail.

"Hunk, what are you doing? Put your damn phone away and help us!"

"I'm texting Shay to tell her I love her, okay?"

"We're not going to _die,_ you dumbass, quit making this worse than it already is-!"

Shiro narrowed his eyes at them and rubbed his temple. Then he put his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly, causing Keith to nearly jump out of his skin and everyone to immediately silence.

Shiro revealed momentarily in the quiet, but remained serious and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Okay, listen," he began. "It doesn't matter who's fault it is. We're here now, so instead of fighting, we should figure out what we should do."

"But Lance said-!" Matt began.

 _"Shut up,"_ Shiro snapped. "I said no fighting. The teachers left me in charge, so if you guys don't work with me, we can sleep outside this drugstore and you can say goodbye to anymore field trips while the entire school blames us for it."

Nobody said anything. Keith was just gaping at him.

Shiro took a deep breath. "Pidge, check and see if there's any hotels nearby. We're going to rent a couple rooms, spend the night, and get up early so we can drive to the campsite by the afternoon tomorrow. You guys got that?"

They all nodded. Pidge looked up from her phone in surprise. "Wait, hotel? Do you have money?"

"I have a credit card," Shiro shrugged. "It's the same thing."

"Uh, you don't think anyone's going to question a bunch of teenagers showing up to a hotel alone?" Hunk asked.

"Not when I look like I'm 40," Shiro replied without skipping a beat.

The others blinked, a little off put by the joke, while Pidge just rolled her eyes. "Fucking hell, Shiro," she whispered, looking through her phone. "Why are you 40, you were 30 yesterday, for God's sake."

After another awkward moment of silence, Pidge finally looked back up at him. "Okay, I found an inn about ten miles from here. Fairly cheap, but not sketchy either, I don't think."

"Thanks, Pidge. Can I borrow your phone?"

She gave it to him, and then everyone walked back to the car. Allura wiped a few stray tears from her eyes and gave Shiro to most grateful look, not saying anything. They climbed aboard, same arrangement as before, and Shiro stared the car. Keith was quiet, shooting a few indecipherable glances at him, but Shiro was too stressed right now to get flustered about it.

At first they all remained quiet, but now that they had a plan, everyone managed to relax a little more, and there was less animosity between them. Matt managed to make Allura laugh a couple times, and even Lance cracked a joke or two. They soon arrived, and the place looked decent enough, so they all headed into the lobby.

"So, these rooms seem pretty small," Hunk mused. "Are we going to have to rent more than one?"

"Well, we definitely need at least two," Allura replied. "One for the men, and one for the ladies."

"Boo, gender segregation," Lance piped up.

"Seriously?" Keith sighed. "Not the time."

"Well yeah, but then the guys will be all crowded," Hunk insisted. "There's like five of us, we'll have to make someone sleep on the floor."

"I can sleep on the floor, it's fine," Shiro volunteered.

"Nah, Shiro, you've already done enough," Matt said. "I say we just get three rooms, and bill it to your parents."

Shiro gave a hollow laugh. "They'll probably kill me, but sure."

In the end, it was decided-Shiro and Matt would share a room, Hunk, Lance and Keith would stay together, and Pidge, much to her dismay, would be rooming with Allura. The receptionist raised an eyebrow at the sight of them, but they weren't questioned, and soon headed up to their rooms with nothing but a few backpacks full of supplies.

"Okay, get some rest, everyone," Shiro told them. "Try not to sleep in too long, okay?"

"Night, everyone!" Lance yawned. They all replied similarly, but Keith stayed behind for a second with Shiro and Matt, looking like he wanted to say something.

Shiro blinked. "Uh, you okay, Keith?"

Keith opened his mouth and hesitated. Shiro paused, feeling that familiar spike in his heartbeat again. Then Keith just shrugged. "Yeah, sorry. Good night." Then he left, and Matt rolled his eyes and dragged Shiro into their room.

* * *

Allura flopped backwards onto the bed with a loud groan. "God, what a day..." She turned to look at Pidge, who was silently climbing under the covers without a word, and turned onto her side. "I'm sorry about all of this, Pidge, I know this isn't what you signed up for at all."

"It's okay, whatever," Pidge muttered, not looking at her.

Allura paused, staring up at the ceiling again. "I hope Ms. Ryner goes easy on us. Lubos is going to give us hell for sure-do you think we can turn this around and use it to prove our problem-solving prowess or something?"

Pidge groaned. "No offense, Allura, but I'm trying to sleep..."

"Oh, I'm...sorry," Allura replied. "I guess I just wanted to vent a little. I just figured since we're sharing a room, we could...talk a little. You're pretty easy to talk to, I think."

"Why do you say that?"

"I mean...you're Shiro's friend, aren't you?"

"Doesn't mean I'm anything like him."

"Well, yeah, I just thought we could...I mean..."

"Not everyone wants to be friends with you, Princess," Pidge snapped, then immediately felt bad. Allura was staring at her with those big hurt eyes and Pidge turned onto her side, facing away. "S-sorry, I guess. That was. Uncalled for."

Allura was quiet for a moment. "Is...everything okay, Pidge? I mean, I know we're not really _friends_ , but, well, if you want to just talk, I won't judge."

"Mm," Pidge mused, still not looking at her. She hesitated, tracing circles on the sheets with her finger. It was dumb, holding this inexplicable grudge against Allura, who hadn't done anything to her. But what was she supposed to say?

"How come everyone likes you?" Pidge suddenly blurted. "I mean, you make it look so easy."

Allura blinked, then laughed. "Well, I-I don't know, really. I guess I just...have things in common with a lot of people? It's easy, you just have to talk to people and you'll find someone who relates to you."

"Sure," Pidge scoffed. "As if I haven't tried that. Everyone thinks I'm weird and nerdy, my only friends are my own brother and his friend from grade school. It's just because you're pretty, that's all."

Allura blinked in surprise. "Well, you're pretty too."

"Yeah right."

"No, really, you're super cute. You've got pretty eyes and a nice smile. And you're short, that's always a plus."

Pidge, surprised, turned to lay on her back again and glanced at Allura from the corner of her eye.

"You know what?" Allura continued. "I bet people are just intimidated by your intelligence. They realize that you're smarter than them and stay away so they don't seem dumb. Especially boys. Trust me, I know."

Pidge smiled in spite of herself and covered her face with her hands. "Ok, I take it back. It's not because you're pretty, it's because you can butter everyone up with compliments. Guess I'm hopeless then."

Allura giggled.

"I...guess I've just been jealous," Pidge finally admitted. "And lonely."

"Aww," said Allura. "Well, it's okay now. You've got me, right? And Keith and Hunk and Lance. They seem to like you."

Pidge scoffed. "Yeah, _Lance_. Mr. Prince Charming, Love Every Lady over here. Not so sure about him. Hunk seems cool though," she mused. "And Keith, I've never talked to, but I already know everything about him."

Allura laughed again. "Yes, he is a pretty big deal, isn't he? I can't imagine how many girls are crying right now because he didn't show up at the campsite."

"Yeah, Shiro whisked him away instead," Pidge joked. "Honestly, girls or no girls, I think Shiro fills me in about Keith enough. The guy recites _sonnets_ about him every day, Keith this, Keith that, Keith is soooo cute, it's like a daily program."

A soft gasp came from Allura's direction. Pidge turned to see wide eyes and an open mouth, and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Oh shit," Pidge muttered, turning away from her again. "I've said too much."

"No wait!" Allura insisted, suddenly awake and excited. "Tell me more, I didn't know about this!"

"Noooo, if you wanna talk about romance, what about you and my brother, huh? Don't think I've given you my blessing yet!"

"Don't change the subject, Pidge!"

"Boy, I sure am tired! This has been nice, good night, Allura."

Allura pouted, but thankfully dropped it, remembering that she was tired too. "Night, Pidge."

Pidge snuggled into the bed, taking a deep breath. Allura wasn't going to drop this and Shiro would probably kill Pidge tomorrow morning. But, there was something to be said about the fact that she was now comfortable enough around Allura to blabber everything to her. That really wasn't a bad thing at all.

 **Next: A balcony scene**


	10. Chapter 10: All Cleared Up

Shiro was up early, mostly due to anxious jitters. The sun had just barely come up, so he decided it was best to just get up, shower and get dressed, quietly so as not to wake Matt. He sent a quick text to the teachers reassuring them that they would leave soon, but in all honesty he was in no hurry. He was probably going to get chewed out once he got to the campsite anyway, plus he wanted his friends to get some rest after what had happened yesterday.

So, after a few more minutes of shaking himself awake, Shiro decided to go get some fresh air. As soon as he walked out the door, however, he paused.

Keith was apparently awake as well, leaning on the railing just a few feet away. With how grumpy and out of it he usually seemed to be in the mornings, Shiro wouldn't have guessed him to be an early riser. Apparently he was wrong. For a moment, Shiro considered just running back into his room, but Keith saw him before he could.

"Oh, hey," Keith greeted quietly. "Uh, good morning."

"Morning," Shiro mumbled. He slowly walked over to him, leaning down on the railing tentatively and staring straight ahead. "You, uh, sleep well?"

"Yeah," Keith replied. "Well, as good as I could with Lance and Hunk snoring...but, I guess it beats sleeping in the car."

Keith paused, words hanging in the air as he tapped his fingers together, then continued. "Um, so...I'm sorry about how I was acting last night. I-I was just kinda blowing up at everyone and...being generally immature and. Yeah."

Shiro blinked, but managed a smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. Everyone was pretty frustrated."

"Yeah, but you managed to keep your cool at least. It was pretty cool how you managed to round everyone up so quickly."

Shiro froze for a second, a blush quickly creeping up into his face, and he quickly turned away so Keith wouldn't see. "Th-thanks, uh, it was nothing, really." _Keith thinks I did something cool holy shit oh my god am I still dreaming?_

There was a long, long pause. Shiro was now trying to work up the nerve to say more, compliment him back, anything. But then Keith cleared his throat.

"Hey, uh. Can I ask you something?" Keith asked, frowning and looking downward.

Shiro gulped, barely able to talk. "S-sure."

Keith hesitated, tensing up more than before. He spoke quietly. "Do you hate me?"

It took a second, but the question felt like a slap in the face and made Shiro's jaw drop. "What?" he blurted. "Wh-no, I don't _hate_ you! Why would you say that?"

Shiro immediately regretted his outburst as Keith glanced up at him with scared puppy eyes before turning away in shame. "I just-I thought you were mad at me! You never want to talk to me, you always look away-" he stopped again, biting his lip while Shiro was mentally punching himself in the face for being an idiot. "Look, I'm really sorry, okay? For what happened after your accident. I stared at your scars and it was-it was insensitive and mean."

Shiro felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He'd almost forgotten about his damn scars and his damn arm and his damn accident that had aged him about thirty years. But that was a long time ago. Seeing Keith beat himself up right now over something Shiro didn't even remember hurt more than an accident could. But he didn't know what to say.

"I know what's it's like to be stared at and looked down on," Keith continued, more softly. "I should have known better. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that you have to be stuck with me all the time. If you don't want to talk to me anymore, it's okay. You don't have to."

Shiro just stared as Keith continued looking away, and he felt like crying. Forget Keith, Shiro hated his own damn self right now. He wanted to pull Keith into a hug, tell him that he loved him and that he should never feel bad about himself ever.

But, instead, all Shiro managed was a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Keith," he began, hoping the heartbreak in his voice wasn't too evident. Keith looked at him again in surprise and he continued, "It's not like that at all, I promise. I don't hate you. I'm not mad, I don't even remember the incident you're talking about. _Everyone_ was staring at me, it's okay. You don't have to feel bad."

Keith blinked, still looking pitiful before a tiny smile appeared on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah," Shiro replied. He took his hand off of Keith's shoulder and leaned on the railing again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way. The truth is, I-" he stopped, catching himself and hesitating for a moment. "I actually admire you a lot. I guess I just...find you a little intimidating."

Keith's jaw dropped and he sputtered out a laugh. "What? Me, intimidating? Why?"

Shiro shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I dunno. You're popular, talented, cooler than me. Can you blame me?"

At this point, Keith just began to laugh. "Shut up, you're joking!"

Shiro breathed a sigh of relief. "Nope."

Keith pushed his hair back and continued snickering, smiling from ear to ear and making Shiro's heart soar. "Oh man, that's such a relief-I felt like the biggest asshole for a long time." He turned to Shiro with that same smile and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Oh, and you don't have to worry about what I think of you, you idiot. I already think you're cool as fuck."

Shiro grinned just as wide, not turning to hide the blush on his face this time. "Thanks. You too."

For a second he swore he saw a faint dusting of pink in Keith's cheeks, but the boy turned away to stretch before he could be sure. "Whew...well, it's past six," Keith mused. "They should be open for breakfast by now. You wanna go grab some food?"

Shiro gulped again, a euphoric feeling in his stomach making him feel like he was walking on clouds. "Yeah, I'd love to." He quickly followed Keith to the elevator, hoping to heaven that this wasn't just some amazing dream.

* * *

Matt awoke to an empty room, too confused and sleepy to really think about it too much. Shiro was awfully restless in general, so Matt figured that he'd woken up at the crack of dawn to go...jog or something, who knows. Matt took his time getting up, then went outside to see if anyone else was awake.

Lance and Hunk were standing outside, talking way too loud for this early hour and messing around with their phones. Matt put his hands in his pockets and walked over to greet them. "Hey."

Lance turned to him with a grin. "Morning, Matt! How's it going?"

"Fine. Is anyone else awake yet?"

"Keith wasn't in our room when we woke up," Hunk replied. "Probably wanted to get away from Lance."

Lance shot him a look and Matt snorted. "Yeah, Shiro doesn't seem to be around either. They must have woken up early."

"I thought drill sergeant Shiro would have woken the rest of us up at sunrise," Lance joked. "What, did he just take Keith and run?"

Matt nearly burst out laughing. _Yeah right._

A moment later, another door opened and Allura stepped out, followed closely by a sleepy looking Pidge. "Morning!" Allura chirped to them. "Did everyone get a good night's sleep?"

"Sure did, thanks for asking, Allura," Lance replied. Then he turned to Pidge. "And good morning to you, sleepyhead."

Pidge just groaned in response.

"Where are Keith and Shiro?" Allura asked.

"Don't know," Hunk responded. "They just disappeared, apparently."

"You don't think they just left without us, do you?" Lance piped up.

"Pfff, no, come on man, Shiro wouldn't do that."

"Maybe Keith convinced him to!"

Allura burst into giggles at this. "Haha, yes. Keith _convinced_ him."

Pidge and Matt both snorted, and Lance frowned at her. "Why is that funny?"

Hunk sighed. "Ok, so I just texted Keith, you know, like a normal person, and he's went downstairs to get some breakfast with Shiro." He pocketed his phone. "He said they're headed back up right now."

As if on cue, the elevator dinged, and Keith and Shiro appeared with a few plates of food in their hands. Keith appeared to be laughing at something Shiro was saying, and they seemed to have forgotten the others were even there until they stopped right in front of them.

"Hey," Keith greeted them, noticeably more happy than he usually was in the morning. "We got some food, you guys want some?"

Pidge and Matt were glancing back and forth from Shiro to Keith, jaws practically on the floor. "Holy shit," said Matt. "You guys had breakfast together?"

Allura squealed loudly for a second before covering her mouth and letting it dissolve into a giggle.

Keith blinked. "Uh-yeah, sorry for not inviting you, didn't think you'd get _that_ upset..."

Shiro stared at the floor.

Thankfully Allura didn't bring it up again, and they soon were gathered by the car again and ready to head off. While the others were climbing into their seats, Allura leaned over to Shiro with a mischievous smile on her face. "So, Shiro, you want to drive the first leg or should I?"

"I can do it, no problem," Shiro smiled. "We can switch off at lunch again like yesterday."

Allura snickered. "Ah, I see, no problem. You want to sit next to Keith some more." She winked at him, lowering her voice. "Do you plan on sharing a tent with him too?"

Shiro went pale, whispering with a horrified expression on his face. "Who told you?"

"A little bird."

Shiro glared at Pidge, who winced. "I'm sorry, Shiro, please forgive me. She's too charming."

Allura gave him a friendly shove. "Don't worry, I won't tell him. But if you want me to give him a little nudge, just let me know~"

"Drop it, please," Shiro muttered.

"Uhhhh, hello?" Lance called from inside the car. "What are you guys talking about out there? Let's go!"

Shiro huffed a breath and climbed into the car, waiting for Allura to do the same. He sent another text to their teacher, and then they were on their way.

* * *

When they arrived at the campsite there was an upheaval of students and teachers running to check on them. Keith had more or less been pried away from his friends and carried away by a group of girls, all of them fussing over him and asking if he was okay or whatever. Lance was apparently dealing with the same thing, except, voluntarily, it seemed. And who knows what happened with poor Allura.

The excitement thankfully died down a couple hours later, and a bonfire was now starting. Keith was listening to a bunch of people talking about what he'd missed, crowding around him for no reason than to pretend they were his friends, while boredly munching on a hot dog. He spotted Allura and the others crowded around a big white tent, and frowned as he snuck away to join them.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh hey," replied Matt. "Did you finally manage to escape from the paparazzi?"

Keith just snorted, and waved off the question with a quick glance around the group. "Where's Shiro?"

"In there," Pidge nodded to the white tent. "He's stuck in a meeting with the whole faculty to discuss what happened."

"By himself?"

"I tried to go in there with him," Allura replied. "But they wanted to just talk to him because he took responsibility for it, being the _adult_ and all," she rolled her eyes.

"Self-sacrificing as usual," Matt sighed.

Keith frowned. "That's not fair. It's not even his fault."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Hunk asked. "Just march in there and demand that they punish all of us?"

"Or just let us all off the hook, preferably," Lance muttered.

Keith's frown just deepened, and he began marching toward the tent without a word.

"Oh, ok," Hunk said. "I guess that's what we're doing, then."

Keith pushed the tent flap aside and burst into the scene, where Shiro was standing in front of a bunch of seated faculty as if he was on trial.

Ms. Ryner frowned. "Keith," she began. "What are you doing here? We asked you kids to wait outside."

Keith stood next to Shiro with a frown, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm here to set the record straight," he declared. "Shiro isn't the reason we got lost, and he shouldn't be held responsible."

"Keith, you don't have to do this," Shiro whispered. "I _asked_ to be held responsible, I can deal with it."

"I'm not letting you take the blame for all of us," Keith insisted. Shiro said nothing, and Keith motioned for the others to start trickling in.

Vice Principal Lubos, angry and stubborn, was seated next to a tired-looking Principal Trigel and whispering something to her. Keith had no idea what he was saying but somehow it still made him even more annoyed.

Trigel waved him off and appraised the group of teens with a neutral expression. "Alright. You're all here. Tell us what exactly happened."

They hesitated for a moment, until Lance sheepishly raised his hand. "I-it was me, actually," he admitted. "I misheard the address and put it in the GPS wrong. It was an honest mistake, anyone could have made it."

"Yeah," Pidge agreed. "And I bet if it was a teacher or a parent who did it, that's what you would have said."

This drew some glares toward her, but the principal just chuckled.

"Hey, if you wanna hold Shiro responsible, maybe talk about what he _actually_ did," Hunk piped up. "You know, made sure we stayed calm and found somewhere safe for us to stay? I mean, damn, if he wasn't there, we all probably would have just panicked and cried. Or at least I would have."

"I should have checked to see if Lance had the right address," Allura said. "I'm partially to blame as well."

"But we're all here now!" said Lance. "Everything turned out okay, that's gotta count for something, right?"

"No, it doesn't count!" Lubos snapped. "You two are the ones who put this whole thing together and insisted that you had it under control! And then you go and get yourselves and five other students lost, far away from everyone and alone!"

Shiro and Allura winced, and Keith bristled like an angry cat.

"Calm down, Lubos," Trigel said, interrupting his tirade. "The kids have a point. We could have had a much worse crisis on our hands if they hadn't kept a cool head on their shoulders. I commend you for that, kids. And I'm glad you're all safe." She frowned. "However, even honest mistakes have consequences. What do you guys think we should do?"

There was more quiet from the teens, as they glanced at each other hesitantly.

"Reward us for being responsible and handling the problem?" Lance tried.

Trigel chuckled again. "I guess we'll need more time to think over your _reward_ , she droned, her tone sending a chill down their spines. "But for now, student council leaders, you'll have to get an okay from _me_ next time you want to plan a trip. And that's _after_ getting approval from Lubos."

Allura groaned, but nodded acceptingly.

"And your parents were notified as well, of course."

"Ah shit," Matt muttered, but shut his mouth before saying anything else.

"Alright. Thank you for your time, children, you're free to go for now."

A collective sigh of relief passed through all of them, and they got out of there as quickly as they could. As they walked out into the crowded, barbecue-scented late afternoon, Shiro took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, uh...thanks for coming to my defense back there, guys."

"It was Keith's idea, actually." Hunk replied.

Keith just gave a shrug and a small smile, and Shiro was unable to look away from him for a second.

"Hey man, it was nothing!" Lance piped up, smacking Shiro on the shoulder. "You're part of the family now, bro, we can't just leave you hanging out to dry!"

"Family? You sure move fast, Lance."

Pidge giggled. "There's no better bonding exercise than getting lost together."

"Okay," Shiro laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Right, but does anyone mind _not_ talking about getting lost right now?" Hunk asked. "Let's go get some food or something, I'm starving."

"Damn, me too," Lance agreed. "Hey everybody get out of the way! Popular kids coming through and we're hungry as fuck!"

Keith rolled his eyes, while Pidge and Matt stuck close to Lance as if excited to be included under "popular kids." Shiro stayed close to Keith, exchanging another smile as they joined up with their group, walking through the parting crowd like some kind of badass posse for all to fear.

* * *

 **Next: some bonding...**


	11. Chapter 11: Back Home

A week later, the gang found themselves tossing their luggage back into their cars and getting ready to leave. Shiro was hoping that the teachers would let them off the hook and let them drive home again, but instead they were forced to take a teacher chaperone with them. Pidge had to leave the group to switch places with said teacher and was driving home with a different set of kids. Ms. Ryner sat in the driver's seat, chatting happily with Keith while Shiro was once again in the backseat with Matt and Allura. He now understood why Pidge found this so annoying. He'd never seen Allura or Matt like this before. Apparently she was absolutely fascinated by his knowledge of science and technology and his curiosity about other cultures-or at least, that's what she kept saying. The fact that even Matt was able to hit it off with a popular kid more easily than Shiro could did make him a little bitter, even if he was happy for them.

Of course, when they weren't flirting with each other, they decided to tease Shiro instead. And that was, well, worse.

"What's with the grumpy face?" Matt asked, nudging him. "You sad that you're not sitting next to Keith anymore?"

"I'm not grumpy," Shiro answered, grumpily.

Matt scoffed. "Yeah okay. You know, I'm proud of you. Being able to finally talk to him normally and all. When are you going to ask him out?"

Allura giggled, and Shiro heaved a sigh. "I don't know, Matt, I don't want to rush anything. Keith doesn't seem like the type to be asked out a week after becoming friends."

Allura nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right about that. But you know, he does seem fond of you," she leaned on Matt's shoulder and smiled at Shiro mischievously. "I've been watching you two. He looks happy around you. Happier than he looked with any of the girls he's dated, I think."

"Your observations seem awfully vague," Shiro replied.

Allura pouted. "Fine, you want me to observe? I'll observe, I'll see what he thinks. Would that make you happy?"

Matt smirked. "Only if you report your findings in a three page essay with one inch margins."

"Oh my god."

Shiro rolled his eyes in amusement and leaned against the window. "Sure, whatever makes you happy." It seemed that the other two had already moved on with their conversation anyway, and Shiro looked up toward the front. Keith had pulled the hood over his head, and was now listening to music through earbuds while staring out the window like he was in a music video. Shiro grinned, mentally berating himself for how the mere sight lightened his mood. God, he was in deep.

A few hundred miles later, they'd arrived back home. Pidge found them pretty quickly and Lance immediately started in on how much he'd missed his "joke buddy," even though they all knew for a fact that he'd been joking with Hunk the whole time. Shiro watched their exchange with mild amusement, and then someone tapped his shoulder.

"Hey," Keith said to him, the usual small grin on his face. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Shiro breathed. Keith looked so cozy in that big sweater he was wearing right now and and he had to resist the urge to hug him. "Good to be back, huh?"

Keith scoffed and nodded. "Sure, I guess. It was a nice trip." He paused, then turned back to him. "Sorry you had to put up with all that shit."

"Yeah, well, I can handle it. Great power, great responsibility and all that."

Keith gave a soft chuckle, and was quiet. For a long moment Shiro found himself staring into those... _gorgeous_ eyes again, just like back on the hotel balcony. He felt that he should say something to him, but what? What was he supposed to say right now?

Keith broke the silence. "Well, uh. I guess I'll see you on Monday."

Shiro gulped. "Yeah. See you." He watched as Keith finally ducked away, waving goodbye to the others as he walked over to where Coran was waiting.

* * *

For the time being, Shiro, Allura, and the rest of the council just wanted to relax. They'd spent this whole year planning the camping trip and, aside from the one...minor complication, it had gone off without a hitch. They deserved a break. Everyone was relieved that Allura had called off their lunch meetings for the next couple of weeks, and now that Shiro had nothing to do, he could actually eat his lunch and take a break from stressing for once.

 _S: Hey Pidge, where did you and Matt go?_

Pidge texted back, _Hanging out with Lance and the others. You know that corner in the C Building hall?_

 _P: Allura invited us but I think she mostly wants to hang out with Matt :P_

 _S: Lol. I'll be right there._

People were shooting odd looks at the apparent "popular kids" corner when Shiro arrived, probably wondering who these new kids were in the corner and why it wasn't them instead. Shiro would be lying if he said he didn't feel the smallest bit prideful.

"Hey, Shiro!" Lance greeted loudly. "We've been waiting for you man, what took you so long?"

"Sorry, this isn't my usual lunch place. I'm bad at breaking routine."

"Geez, you work like a dang robot, Shiro," Matt told him. "Good to see you chilling doing something different for a change, you're too young to be locked into a routine."

Shiro opened his mouth to say something.

"Don't-" Matt stopped him. "Don't make a joke about how old you look, okay? I'm sorry I said that."

Shiro shrugged sheepishly and heard Keith laugh somewhere next to him. He tried not to dwell on it too much.

"Okay, who's in the mood for Chinese food?" Allura piped up. "We could go get some from that place at the end of the block."

"Ooh, hell yeah!" Hunk agreed, pushing himself off the wall. "I heard they have this new pork thing-looks kinda gross but I wanna try it." He started walking with the others toward the door and then turned to Shiro. "Oh by the way," he motioned to a girl next to him that Shiro hadn't seen before. "Don't think I introduced you-this is my girlfriend Shay."

"Hey!" Shay greeted him cheerfully. "It's great to meet you, Hunk told me all about what happened on the trip. You just have some serious patience to handle _these_ guys."

"Shay!" Hunk pouted.

Shiro laughed. "You should see some of what I have to deal with on the student council. This was no big deal."

"It was too a big deal," Keith said, nudging him. "Quit selling yourself short."

Shiro smiled wider, looking away shyly. "Thanks. Hopefully I won't have to deal with anything like that again, it was a giant mess."

Keith scoffed. "What, no more getting lost? Where's your sense of adventure, Shiro?"

"You're one to talk, Keith, I remember you freaking out and screaming the whole time."

Keith pouted and nudged him again. "Don't expose me like this."

Shiro laughed. "I mean, I can't say it was all bad," he muttered quietly. "There was some good that came out of it."

"Like what?" Keith asked.

Shiro jumped. "Uh. Well, you know. Made some new friends."

Keith blinked, then rolled his eyes with a grin. "Wow. You are a sap."

Shiro smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling so pleasantly warm all of a sudden. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Keith, Shiro!" Allura called from way ahead. "Come on, what are you doing?"

Shiro and Keith both blinked. They hadn't even realized that they'd slowed to a stop and let the others get further ahead. "Sorry, coming!" Sharing one more quick glance, he and Keith quickly ran to catch up.

* * *

"What were you and Shiro talking about?"

Keith jumped, only just realizing that Allura had snuck up behind him and was no following him to class. "I-what do you mean? When?"

"On our way to lunch," Allura clarified. "You two just stopped like you were in your own little world, what were you talking about?"

Keith flushed and shrugged. "Ah, nothing, really. We were just talking and got a bit distracted I guess."

Allura raised an amused eyebrow. "I see. You guys sure clicked pretty easily didn't you? I wasn't expecting that, you're so different from each other."

"Not really," Keith replied with a smile. "It's nice having some new faces in the group-not that I'm tired of you and the other guys or anything."

"Oh sure you aren't," Allura stuck out her tongue at him with a fake pout. "But I'm glad to see that you're...happy, at least."

Keith raised an eyebrow, confused, as they entered their next classroom. "Uh. Thanks?"

Allura flashed him a grin and they split off to sit at their respective desks. Keith sat down, ignoring the usual glances from his classmates, and rested his chin on his arms with a frown. What was Allura talking about? Of course he was happy to have new friends. Pidge and Matt were cool too, why had she singled out Shiro?

Unless...Allura was implying something _else_. She could be awfully nosy like that. But she was just overthinking, right? He and Shiro were just good friends. Yeah, Keith enjoyed his company, and they got along, and, admittedly he felt something that could be called _admiration_ for the guy after the camping trip but...that was all. That's probably how Shiro felt too. Anything else was probably just wishful thinking on Keith's part.

 **Next: A dance is coming up**


	12. Chapter 12: Internal Conflict

Pidge had arrived early as usual, groggy and tired but still moving somehow, when she spotted Lance with his back to her, talking with a couple of girls. She paused, hesitating as she debated whether or not to go say hi. They were friends, right? Granted, they hadn't talked one-on-one since they'd first met in the halls that one time, but that didn't matter...the problem was that he was talking to a pair of girls that she didn't know. Should be expected, considering how popular he was. Pidge decided it was best to just walk past and talk to him later, when she wasn't feeling like a zombie.

When she walked past, however, she overheard some of what they were saying to each other.

"So, Lance," one of the girls began. "There's a few new faces in the Exclusive Popular Kids Club lately. People have been whispering about them. Who are they?"

Lance snorted at the name. "It's not a club."

"Everyone sure acts like it is."

"I guess so," Lance shrugged. "Well, Shiro is the student council VP, you know him, right?"

"Oooh, yeah," the other girl replied. "He's friends with Allura, right?"

"Yeah. And the other two are his friends."

The first girl laughed. "Oh, I get it. It's like, networking. They're friends with a friend of a friend."

Lance grinned. "Something like that."

Pidge, who was no hiding by pressing herself against a nearby wall, frowned. They hadn't said anything bad about her, but for some reasons she didn't like where this was going.

"That does make sense, I mean," Girl 1 crossed her arms and looked up thoughtfully. "They don't really look like the type of people who would become popular? Not to judge or anything, but like, you don't seem like you'd befriend a bunch of techie smart people on your own, Lance."

"Awww, Anya, what do you mean by that?" Lance pouted. "You don't think I could become friends with smart people without Allura's help?"

She giggled. "You don't seem like the type, no. You're always so concerned with image."

Lance scoffed, rubbing his arm tensely. "Wh-come on, you think I'm totally shallow or something? Besides, what's wrong with hanging out with nerds, huh? It's great, they can help you with your homework and shit."

Pidge grit her teeth. Didn't she have somewhere to be?

The second girl gasped. "Lance, you're not using them, are you? That's a pretty awful thing to do."

Lance snorted. "I'm joking, I wouldn't make them do my homework-I mean, unless they offered."

Pidge huffed. Yeah, that sounded about right. She didn't know why she'd ever thought otherwise. She pushed herself off the wall and just started walking past them like she'd been doing before.

"Hey, Pidge!" Lance suddenly called out behind her. "Speak of the devil, we were just talking about you!"

Pidge cringed as she turned around to see Lance waving her over. The two girls just looked uncomfortable.

"Oh, really?" Pidge called back. "Uh, that's great, but I-really can't hang out right now, I've got...robotics club! Bye!"

Lance blinked, unable to stop her as she hurried away into the crowding hallway.

The girls blinked. "Isn't robotics club in the afternoon or something?" Anya asked.

Lance grinned at them. "She's probably getting a head start. I bet she takes over the world with a giant robot while shouting witty one-liners the whole time."

"Is she witty?"

"Yeah! But you wouldn't know it unless you're her best friend like I am."

They both rolled their eyes, and then they all split when the bell rang.

* * *

Pidge had texted Matt during class and asked him to meet in their old spot at brunch. She found him there, standing alone and waiting for her with a concerned frown.

"Hey, Matt," she greeted, tossing her backpack aside and hoisting herself up to sit on the stone railing.

"Hey, sis," Matt replied. "You alright? What's bugging you?"

Pidge shrugged. "I dunno, I just...didn't feel like hanging out with the others today."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "How come? Did they say something to bother you?" He paused. "Was it Lance? Did he do something?"

Pidge tensed up, but gave a sigh. "No, he didn't...do anything. It's just that..." she paused. "I don't know, sometimes I feel like they're just being nice because they feel bad for us, you know?"

Matt was quiet, then sat next to her and started playing with some rocks thoughtfully. "Yeah, I...I admit I've thought that once or twice," he said quietly. "I mean, they seem like good people, but they probably wouldn't have bothered with us if we hadn't gotten lost on that trip."

"Right? Or if we weren't friends with Shiro to begin with."

Matt nodded. "But, maybe we're just jumping to conclusions, you know? We can't just suddenly stop hanging out with them without being sure. You still like them, right Pidge?"

Pidge's frown deepened as she recalled what she'd overheard from Lance earlier. "I guess. Most of them. I don't know."

There was a pause, then Pidge sighed again. "Whatever, just don't tell Shiro about this. He'd just make himself get all worried about it, and that would suck. He's having so much fun hanging out with Keith."

Matt laughed. "Yeah that's true. That lovestruck bastard, I've never seen him so happy in my life."

Pidge smiled. "Yeah." She looked up at her brother curiously. "What about you? I thought you were having fun hanging out with Allura."

Matt frowned and looked down. "Hmm, yeah, but...I have no idea where we're going with that, you know? I mean, I like her. But if she is just hanging out with us out of pity, I think she's still draw the line at _dating_."

Pidge gave him a sympathetic smile and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, if it's any consolation, I think she does like you back."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," Pidge shrugged. "I dunno, maybe you're right and I am over thinking. I'm not really sure right now."

Matt hopped off the rail and stretched himself out. "Yeah, I get what you mean. We could just take a break for today. Wanna go get some ice cream?"

Pidge grinned widely and followed him. "Sure."

* * *

Apparently, the student council took matters of planning an end-of-school-year dance more seriously than anything else that happened in the entire year, camping trip aside. At least, that's what Shiro assumed by the amount of heated debates and time consumed in the meeting as soon as Allura had uttered the words, "Spring Formal Dance."

They'd finally made it out, at last, and Allura gladly announced that they still had about a quarter of the lunch period left. Although tired, they both managed to walk at a fast enough pace to find their friends huddled in the usual corner.

Keith, Lance and Hunk were crowding around a phone, watching some video that was apparently hilarious, at least to Lance and Hunk. Allura was the first to approach them. "What are you guys watching? Let me in on the fun!"

Hunk turned the phone toward her. Keith stepped away from them at last, the bored look on his face seeming to disappear when he saw Shiro, though that was probably just Shiro's imagination. "Hey."

"Hey," Shiro smiled back. "Where are Matt and Pidge?"

"No idea, man!" Lance piped up. "I haven't seen them all day, and Pidge isn't replying to my texts."

Shiro frowned. "That's weird. I know I saw Matt this morning." He pulled out his own phone and tuned them out, tapping out a questioning text to Matt. The other didn't respond right away, so Shiro pocketed his phone and decided to just hang out with the group until the other two showed up.

"You guys wanna go out to lunch again today?"

"Allura, _no_ , not all of us have money to throw around," Lance whined. "Besides, it's too late to go out, you guys took forever in that meeting of yours. What were you doing?"

Allura smiled. "Sorry, people started getting really heated about dance ideas and stuff."

Lance's eyes lit up. "Oh shit, yeah! I heard people talking about that today. Who do you guys plan on taking?"

Keith sighed.

"Uh, I'm taking Shay, duh," Hunk said. "I'm like the only person here who has someone to take, probably."

Lance nudged him with his elbow. "For your information, Hunk, I happen to have _plenty_ of options," he bragged. "Both Nyma _and_ Ezor were hinting at me in class today, so you know, I think I'll be fine."

"I got asked by Rolo today and I had to turn him down," Allura sighed. "It'll probably just get worse from here."

"Gotta love dance season," Keith agree with a roll of his eyes.

Shiro's throat suddenly felt dry And he gulped, but still managed to give Keith a sorta-casual smile. "Have you gotten asked by a million girls yet?"

"No," Keith scoffed. "But I'm betting it will start tomorrow morning."

Shiro just nodded. Was now the best time to ask? Should he even ask at all?

The chatter from the rest of the group continued. "You know, I'm actually thinking of asking Matt," Allura began shyly.

"Whaaaa?" Lance yelled. "Wait, you and Matt? I didn't know you were into him."

"Seriously, Lance, have you been asleep?" Hunk replied. "They've been hovering around each other like hummingbirds for weeks!"

"Ooooh, nice, so you're gonna get it on with the nerdy kid, huh? Sounds like fun."

"Oh my god, _Lance_. It's just a dance..."

They kept going, but Shiro was already somewhere else, and his mind was racing. Should he ask now? No, not in front of all their friends. But he had to do it soon or someone would beat him to the punch. This was the last dance of their senior year, his last chance. But what if Keith didn't want to go with him? What if he wasn't even into boys? What if Keith stopped seeing him as a friend and though he was just a creep who only wanted to get into his pants all along-

The bell rang, and Shiro nearly jumped out of his skin. Keith turned to him in concern. "You okay?"

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine." He looked down at his feet, not looking at Keith so his current state of mind wouldn't be given away.

Keith looked confused, but smiled and waved as he headed off after Allura. "I'll see you later, then."

Shiro paused, heart beating way faster than before, then called out after him. "Wait, Keith!"

Keith stopped and turned around again. "Yeah?"

"There's-I need to ask you something."

Keith looked up at him expectantly. Shiro opened his mouth, but the question somehow got caught in his throat. "Uh-will, uh-" _Shit, come on, Shiro, just spit it out, the worst he can do is say no._ Keith was still staring at him, dark eyes burning into Shiro's soul, which was not helping.

"Uh-do you think you could send me your notes from class this morning? I just-I need them, and I wanted to ask before I forgot." He paused and sucked in a breath.

Fuck.

Keith raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll text you a picture later." He turned on his heel and started off again. "See you later."

"Yeah. Later."

Shiro needed another second to be able to move from his spot. He gripped the handle of his backpack and started trudging off to his own class, mentally punching and kicking himself along the way. There went any hope Shiro had that he'd be confident enough for this. He didn't even need any fucking notes.

His phone buzzed, snapping Shiro momentarily out of his lament. Oh, it was Matt. That's right, he and Pidge hadn't shown up at all during lunch time. Shiro opened the text.

 _M: sorry dude, Pidge and I had some class advising shit to take care of, haha. Hope you had fun with Keith ;3c_

Shiro wanted to die.

* * *

Allura was about to head home for the day when she spotted a familiar tiny girl walking through the hallways. She immediately perked up and started squeezing through the crowd to get to her. "Pidge!" Allura called. "Hey, wait up!"

Pidge seemed to freeze, turning slowly to face Allura as she stopped in front of her, out of breath and smiling widely. "Hey! There you are, I haven't seen you all day!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Pidge replied, shifting her weight nervously. "We had, uh...counseling...stuff."

"Yeah, we missed you, though," Allura said, starting to walk next to her. "Lance said he'd been sending you all these texts, he was wondering where you were."

A bitter frown crossed Pidge's face, making Allura raise an eyebrow. "Why?" Pidge muttered. "Did he need help with his homework?"

Allura looked confused. "No? I don't think he did, he just wanted to hang out."

Pidge just scoffed and turned a corner, and Allura followed her with a frown. "Pidge, are you okay? Are you mad at Lance? Is that why we haven't seen you all day?"

"Nosy much?"

Allura shut her mouth, hesitating for a moment. "Uh—sorry, I just. I got worried."

Pidge was staring her down with a calculating glare, but then gave in and sighed. She leaned against a nearby wall and crossed her arms. "Okay, fine. Yes, I am mad at Lance."

Allura sighed. "What did he do?"

"I heard him talking to some girls earlier," Pidge muttered. "He said something about, being friends with the nerds so they could help you with your homework."

Allura's eyes widened and she stood up straighter. "He said that?"

"I don't think he meant it," Pidge added quickly. "He said he was joking, but...I don't know. I guess it hit a little close to home."

"He definitely didn't mean it," Allura assured her. "I know Lance. He's an idiot, but he'd never use someone like that. I'm so sorry, Pidge, I'll give him an earful tomorrow-that's not why you and Matt were gone, is it?"

Pidge nodded. "Matt and I don't have many friends other than Shiro. It was weird to be thrown in the popular kids spotlight all of a sudden. We thought maybe you were hanging out with us out of pity, or worried about image or whatever." Pidge shrugged. "I don't know, it's dumb."

"No, it's not dumb," Allura replied. "But don't worry, it's nothing to do with pity. We do like you and Matt, for real. Lance, too, but like I said, he's an idiot."

Pidge couldn't help but smile. "You sure about that?"

"Lance? Yes, he's an idiot, but he's harmless-"

"No, I mean the pity thing."

Allura raised an eyebrow. "Yes, of course. _I'm_ not worried about any image."

"Prove it," Pidge smirked.

Allura blinked slowly, starting to fidget nervously. "Uh...how do you want me to do that?"

Pidge put a hand on her chin and pretended to think deeply.

"Pidge, you're not going to make me do something embarrassing, will you?"

Pidge finally laughed. "No, no, I'll save that for the dumb blue boy. I was gonna tell you to take my brother to the dance."

Allura relaxed for a moment, then tensed up again. "Wait, what?"

Pidge looked up at her sheepishly. "He really likes you," she said. "But he doesn't think you want to be seen with him." She looked up at her with a testing look. "Anyway, take him out to the dance, make him happy, that's all you gotta do."

Allura laughed. "Is this you giving me your blessing, finally?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

Allura gave a mock-sigh, but didn't seem annoyed by this at all. "Alright, okay-as long as you stop avoiding us so we can give Lance what-for tomorrow."

"Deal."

* * *

Just as expected, Keith was bombarded with extra attention the second he walked into his first class. The first bold girl to ask him to be her date was a tiny little thing, big eyes and balled fists, trying way too hard not to show how terrified she was. Keith kinda felt bad about having to turn her down. He could feel Shiro and Matt's eyes on him throughout the whole thing, which wasn't much help.

"Uh, I'm...sorry, Melissa," he began, trying to find the right words. "That's real nice of you, but I'm not interested-nothing personal, I'd just rather go with someone I know well."

The girl blinked a few times in disbelief before her face fell, and she looked down at the floor and nodded. "Oh. I...guess that makes sense. Um. I'll just. Go, then."

"Take care..."

She hurried away before he could say anything else, and Keith thought he saw her burying her face in her arms later.

He hated this. He had to deal with this every dance for the past two years. He couldn't wait until he'd graduated from here and stopped being popular altogether. At least then he wouldn't be breaking the hearts of all these poor kids who admired him.

There were three more similar conversations just with his first two classes. At brunch time he was just glad to be in the security of their usual corner, surrounded by friends. Pidge and Matt were back, and they seemed happy enough. Allura was chewing Lance out about something a few feet away, and the poor guy was looking like a kicked puppy. It was hilarious.

Shiro seemed a bit down, but it was hard to notice, apparently, the others hadn't picked it up. Keith briefly wondered if Shiro had to deal with the same shit that Keith did when it came to dances. Shiro was a good-looking, well known guy, surely he had his own fanbase of admirers, right? Maybe they could share the burden. Or perhaps Shiro already had a date? They'd have to be one hell of a person to get his attention.

By lunch time and the tenth invitation, Keith was ready to just announce that he was sitting this dance out altogether. Maybe their group of friends could go out and spend the night elsewhere. Those plans were soon crushed, however, when he saw Allura pull Matt aside with a smile on her face. She probably thought she was being secretive.

"You wouldn't happen to have a date for the Spring Formal, would you?"

Matt froze up so quickly that for a second, Keith thought he'd been hit by Medusa's gaze. "Uh," Matt's voice came out as a squeak. "No?"

Allura tilted her head down shyly, something Keith was sure he'd never seen her do before, and asked softly. "Do you think you'd want to go with me?"

Pidge was standing behind Matt, apparently ready to catch him if he passed out, and grinning proudly. Matt took a second to re-orient himself before nodding eagerly at Allura, and she immediately gave him the biggest, tightest hug. Pidge whooped proudly, getting everyone's attention, and the whole group of friends started clapping at the couple.

"Congratulations," Lance told them. "Now I just need to decide who _I'm_ taking. Got a whole bunch of requests today."

Pidge rolled her eyes and moved to stand as far away from him as possible.

"I think I'm just going to stay home," Keith finally sighed.

"What?" Hunk asked. "Come on, Keith, it's the last one."

Keith scoffed. "So what? You'll all have your dates and I'll be by myself-no point in even going."

"You mean nobody's asked you yet?" Shiro asked.

"Plenty," Keith replied, turning to him. "But I don't know any of them. If I want a date for this, I'd rather it be someone I already know. You know what I mean?"

Shiro paused for a second, turning away with a shrug. The others had already moved on with their conversations, but Shiro kept talking to Keith. "Yeah, I can understand that. I'm basically in the same boat."

Keith raised an eyebrow, amused. "Lots of requests for you too?"

"A few," Shiro replied. "But for now I'm alone for that night, uh, like you."

Keith nodded. For a second it crossed his mind that he and Shiro could just go together-as friends, of course, as bachelors. But asking him that right now would probably give him the wrong idea, and Keith didn't want to jump the gun like that. And even though Allura was busy with Matt right now, Keith knew she would fly through the roof if he and Shiro were going "together" in any sense of the word. Having Shiro as a date didn't sound _too_ bad, of course-he was a nice guy, Keith enjoyed hanging around him. It just had no chance of ever going anywhere, that's all.

"Keith?" Shiro's voice snapped Keith out of his thoughts. "You okay?"

Keith blinked at him, flushing a little. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Everyone's going to the cafeteria," Shiro told him, sticking a thumb out at the group that was slowly walking away. "And you were just standing there."

Keith fidgeted with his backpack for a second. "Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something-let's go."

They didn't speak to each other as they followed their friends, and Keith was allowed to slip back into his train of thought. For a second he considered telling Shiro his idea of going to the dance together-as friends-but found that he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

What was wrong with him, what was he so afraid of? It wouldn't be a date, right? Was he really scared that Shiro would say no? It wasn't like he had a crush on the guy. He just found him to be good company, and admired his friendliness, his sincerity, his commanding presence, his voice, and oh _shit._

"Actually, uh," Keith suddenly squeaked, "I'll catch up with you later, I need to go...to the bathroom."

Shiro seemed confused and a little concerned, but smiled nonetheless (not helping). "Ok. See you later, then."

Keith nodded quickly and turned away to run in the general direction of the bathroom. Some people called out to him along the way, but he didn't acknowledge them. Instead he was just trying to figure out when the _fuck_ this had happened, how long he felt this way and why he hadn't realized it sooner-and what he was supposed to _do_ about it.

Assuming, of course, that he even did anything at all.

* * *

 **Next: Keith takes a leap of faith**


	13. Chapter 13: Taking the Plunge

Keith had gone on dates before. He'd had relationships before, plenty of them, especially since being at this school. By all accounts, he had plenty of experience with this subject and shouldn't need advice for asking out someone he liked.

So then, why was he so nervous about this?

Probably because he hadn't had any real, genuine feelings for someone in a long time. Growing up, he'd experienced plenty of crushes, girls and boys alike, and it had more or less been okay.

Then he'd been hurt. Badly. Much worse than anything Jennifer Mureno could have done to him. After that, he'd thought it best to stay away from real feelings of affection. Fleeting attraction was fine. Dating girls and messing around with them just for fun was fine. But no falling in love. That was his rule. And then Shiro had barged into his life and ruined everything.

Shiro was a good person. Keith knew that. But he was scared. And he needed to talk to someone about it.

So, despite knowing that she'd have the most annoying reaction, Keith found himself calling Allura on his phone. As it rang, he lay outstretched on his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his apartment, he tried to figure out how to approach this.

Allura picked up after a few rings, sounding just as perky as ever, like a busy hummingbird. " _Hey Keith, what's up?"_

"Hey Allura," Keith replied, quietly so Coran wouldn't hear. "What are you up to?"

" _Homework, kinda,"_ she chuckled. " _Did you need something?"_

"Sort of. I mean, if you're not too busy I just kinda wanted to talk about something."

There was a shifting noise on the other end, and Allura sounded more attentive. " _Talk about what?"_

Keith paused for a second. "Promise you won't laugh or freak out."

 _"...okay. I promise."_

Keith took a deep breath. "Ok, uh. I think I've got a crush, like an actual crush-and it's kinda scaring me."

There was a pause, before Allura burst out laughing. " _Wh-what? You, the playboy heartthrob, are scared of having a crush?"_

"I'm not a playboy, that's Lance!" Keith snapped. "And you said you wouldn't laugh!

 _"Sorry, sorry, I'm not laughing anymore. But seriously, why are you scared? Whoever you like will probably be stoked. And you've dated people before."_

"Yeah, but they all came to me. It was never like this. I just-I don't know, I don't know if I want to take the risk."

 _"Okay, well. Who is it?"_

"Um. Someone. A friend."

He couldn't see Allura but he knew she was rolling her eyes. " _Keith, come on, you can trust me."_

"Ok, fine it's..." he muttered the name under his breath.

 _"What?"_

"It's Shiro, okay?"

Keith held his breath after saying it, listening to the shocked silence on the other end for what felt like forever.

Then Allura screamed. " _OH MY GOSH! Are you serious? You're not shitting me, right?"_

"Why would I be shitting you? And you said you wouldn't freak out!"

 _"Aaaaah, oh my gosh, I have to tell Matt and Pidge about this-"_

"No, are you crazy?! Don't tell anyone about this! Allura!"

 _"Ok, ok, ok, fine fine fine."_ Her squeals dissolved into little giggles and she continued. _"But again, I have to ask, why are you scared? He likes you too!"_

"No he doesn't, he's probably straight."

 _"What makes you say that?"_

"I don't know, he seems straight-look, Allura, I don't want you going crazy over this, okay? He's a guy. I haven't been into a guy in...forever. And I don't know what to do."

Allura was quiet, thoughtful on the other end. While Keith waited for her to speak, Coran slowly opened the door to his room and peeked inside.

"Everything okay in here, Keith?" Coran asked in concern. "I heard you yelling."

Keith stiffened and sat up. "Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine Coran. I was just talking to Allura."

 _"Hi Coran!"_ Allura greeted cheekily.

"Oh hello, Allura!" Coran let himself into Keith's room as sat down next to him, talking at his phone. "How have you been? How's your dad?"

" _He's doing fine, he's outside in the living room right now."_

"Say hi to him for me! And ask him if he's still planning to show up for bowling night, I need to know how much pizza to order!"

Keith gave a heavy sigh as the conversation started to derail. "Guys, come on. Coran, if you want to talk to her dad, you can call him yourself."

Coran blinked. "Ah, right. I'll leave you both to it, then-"

" _Wait, Coran, maybe you can give Keith some advice. He's freaking out a little because he just realized he's in loooove."_

Keith stared straight ahead and contemplated jumping out the window. Allura was a traitor and he would never tell her anything ever again.

Coran, of course, had eagerly sat right back down with a grin on his face. "Oh, is that so? Well, I happened to be very well-experienced in this subject-who's the lucky girl?"

Keith bit his lip. "Well, uh, it's actually a lucky...guy."

Coran looked surprised for just a second, but to Keith's relief he nodded and continued. "I see. Not that different, really, it just depends on the person. Who is it?"

"Shiro, from school," Keith admitted with a sigh. "Remember him? He's the one who came over for that science project that one time. The one with the white bangs."

" _Oh my, Keith, you've already brought him home? What else haven't you told me?"_

Coran chuckled. "Ah yes, I remember him-I thought I saw something going on between you two, but I didn't want to say anything. He definitely had a thing for you though."

 _"See?"_

Keith blushed and sank further into his seat. "I-I guess, but I'm just not sure what to do. I've never dated a guy and had it end up, you know, good."

Coran and Allura were both quiet for a moment, thinking.

" _Keith, I don't know what that guy you dated before was like,"_ Allura began slowly. " _But I can assure you that Shiro isn't like him-he's a good person, you and I both know that."_ She paused for a second, then. _"Hey, why don't you ask him to the Spring Formal? That would be a good start without jumping all in."_

Coran perked up. "Ah, a dance! Excellent thinking, Allura, you can test the waters." He wrapped an affectionate arm around Keith and smiled dreamily into the distance. "Dancing is such a great way to create chemistry. I once took a girl to a dance when I was in high school. Lifted her high up into the air and everything. She was absolutely swooning. You should try that."

Keith blinked. "Uh, he's bigger than me, I don't think I can lift him."

"Hmm, alright, if you don't have the moves, you can go for charming with words. Do you know any poetry?"

Keith sighed, and Allura was laughing.

Coran gave Keith's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Alright, alright, I can see you're not into the big displays of romance. So just be honest with him-you're pretty good at being blunt." His smile got a little smaller and he lowered his voice. "Listen, I know sometimes things don't turn out as planned, but you shouldn't let that stop you from getting back out there and trying again. You could miss out on something beautiful. You'll never know unless you try. And, if this Shiro fellow does turn out to be not so good, just let me know and I'll make his life miserable."

Keith couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that one. The thought of Coran making anyone's life miserable was hilarious, but also strangely believable.

" _Shiro is a great guy, Coran, you have nothing to worry about,"_ said Allura. " _So, Keith, what do you say?"_

Keith shrugged. "I...guess I could try."

Allura cheered. " _Awesome! Be sure to tell me how it goes. I kinda have to finish my homework now, soooo."_

"Yeah, ok. Thanks, Allura. Bye"

Coran gave Keith a final pat on the back as he stood up. "Well, I have a couple to things I have to do myself-do you need anything else?"

"I'm good. Thanks, Coran."

"Anytime, my boy." He smiled again left the room, leaving Keith alone with his phone again.

For a moment Keith contemplated just going through with it right now, before he could think too long and lose his nerve. But this probably wasn't something he should do over a call or text. He should ask Shiro in person. And, a night of sleep just to calm himself down beforehand wouldn't hurt.

* * *

It was morning once again when Lance approached Pidge in the hallways. She didn't acknowledge him, didn't turn around. She just kept rearranging the things in her locker as if it was the most important thing in the world.

"Hey, Pidge!" Lance called out as he slid to stand next to her. "Pidgeon! Pidgeroonie! My buddy! How are you?"

Pidge turned to him for just a second, an unimpressed glare on her face, then looked away again. "I _was_ doing fine."

Lance faltered a little, then quickly regained his composure. "Hey, listen, I understand that you're angry, and I am very sorry. What I said-it was a joke, I didn't mean it-but it was still a shitty thing to say, and I was wrong. I am truly, very sorry."

Pidge glanced at him curiously through the corner of her eye.

Lance grinned wider. "And, just to show how sorry I am, I got you this!" He pulled out a book from behind his back, wrapped in a green ribbon, and handed it to her.

Pidge raised an eyebrow, and hesitantly took it. _"Computer Programming for Little Geniuses, Volume one,"_ she read. She was still frowning, looking up at Lance who had a confident smile on his face.

"So?" He asked her. "We good?"

Pidge scowled and tossed the book back at him. "Keep it," she muttered. "I already have all three volumes at home."

Lance tried to sputter out a response, but Pidge slammed her locker and started to walk away. He didn't let her get far, though.

"Hey, come on!" Lance insisted. "What's your problem! I said sorry! I got you a present! What more do you want?"

"Your apology sounds fake as shit," Pidge snapped. "You're just going through the motions and expecting me to eat it right up. Forget it."

"Wh-what do you mean going through the motions? I-I spent _money_ for this, I got this for you!"

"I didn't ask you to!" Pidge yelled back. "And even when you do, this is all you think of getting me! A _nerdy_ gift for the _nerd!_ Right?"

Lance sputtered again. "B-but-I thought this is what you're into!"

"It is, but-ugh, that's not the problem!" Pidge stomped her foot and tried to search for the right words in her distressed state. "Look, you just don't get it! You say you're sorry, but I don't hear any actual remorse. You don't know how much it hurt me. Yes, I'm a nerd. I like robots and computers and math and science. But I'm a person too! I have feelings, and I want friends who actually enjoy my company and don't make jokes behind my back about making me do their homework!"

Lance looked stunned, and Pidge took the opportunity to tighten her grip on her backpack and walk away again. "Come back when you've got a real apology."

"Ok, wait," he stammered, stopping her once more. Pidge just stared at the floor and Lance made no effort to step closer again. "I-you're right. You're right, Pidge, I was being an idiot, I never should have said that. B-but...the thing is," he hesitated, then continued, "I-I do appreciate your friendship. I _like_ that you're smart, and witty, and fun, and everything you are. I forgot about that for a while, and it was the dumbest thing I've ever done-and I've done a lot of dumb things, believe me!"

Pidge scoffed, but spoke softly. "Oh, I believe you."

Lance gulped. "Y-yeah, I...I don't know why to say. I'm sorry. I mean it. A-and if you're still mad, I understand...but I just want you to know that I like having you around, and I like being your friend-no homework related attachments at all. You're not just a nerd, you're... _Pidge._ I might make a lot of mistakes, but I'd never be dumb enough not to appreciate that."

There was a long pause. Pidge didn't say anything. Lance sighed sadly, and looked down at the book again. He was just about to leave when suddenly Pidge was in front of him, gently taking the book from his hands and smiling.

"On second thought," she said, looking up at him. "The one I have at home is kinda worn out."

Lance stared down in disbelief for a moment, before beaming widely and scooping Pidge up into a hug. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" He cried. "God, I'm so relieved. I'm not used to having people mad at me."

Pidge scoffed again, but softly hugged him back. "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, you big dork."

Lance gave her an affectionate squeeze before letting go, keeping a friendly arm around her shoulders for a moment as they walked down the hall. "Well, now that that's over-uh, how have you been? We haven't talked in a while, catch me up."

"Nothing, everything's been pretty slow lately," Pidge shrugged. "Hey, by the way, if you ever _do_ need some help with your homework, I can tutor you sometime. It's different now because _I'm_ offering."

"Aww, thanks, Pidge," Lance replied. "And in return, I can help you get a date to the dance."

"What?" Pidge turned red. "No, I don't-that's ok, you don't have to."

"Hey, some on, it's my area of expertise," Lance nudged her. "I could hook you up with someone cute, you'll have a fun night, you know what I mean?"

Pidge giggled. "Thanks, but I really don't need a date. I just wanna go so I can spy on Matt."

Lance laughed. "Wow, ok. I guess I can understand that. But it would suck for you to go alone." He paused for a second. "You know what? I can go with you. We can go bug all our friends."

Pidge whipped her head up to stare at him, mouth agape, and it took a second for Lance to realize what she was thinking.

"No, I-I mean-" he stammered. "As friends. Planetonically."

"Pla-you mean _platonically?"_ Pidge's shoulders sagged a little, but she smiled again. "Yeah, okay, that...doesn't sound too bad. But what about all the girls lined up to be your date?" She raised a teasing eyebrow at him. "It is the last dance."

Lance looked thoughtful for a second. "I mean...I've had lots of dates, you know? And there's always college." He shrugged. "I guess it would be better to spend the last one with a friend, you know?"

Pidge smiled softly. "Aww. That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said."

"Really? Even after my whole apology speech?"

Pidge giggled again. "Okay, okay. Second nicest. And, uh, yeah, the dance thing sounds good to me." She looked up as the school bell rang.

"Great!" Lance rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, then started off while pointing a pair of finger guns at her. "Anyway, thanks for talking it out with me. I'll see you later, Pidgeon!"

Pidge shuffled in place for a second, holding the book close and taking in everything that had just happened. She had to admit, she never thought she'd be close to anybody like Lance.

* * *

For some reason or another that Matt couldn't remember, he and Shiro had ended up staying behind in the loft above the gym, cleaning up after the last PE class. Something to do with punishment about getting lost on the camping trip or whatever.

Shiro was obviously in a bad mood, stacking mats silently and frowning the whole time. Matt just sighed and left him be. It was hard to talk to him when he got like this.

Matt's phone buzzed, and he quickly brightened when he saw that it was from Allura. She just wanted to talk about whatever was on her mind. How typical of her. How adorable.

He must have spent more time than he thought texting her back and forth, because Shiro was soon nudging him impatiently. "Hey, I could use some help here."

Matt chuckled sheepishly, texting a quick goodbye to Allura and pocketing his phone. "Ah, sorry. Got a bit distracted."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Allura?"

"Yeah..."

"Good for you," Shiro muttered. He turned back to the mats.

Matt's smile disappeared. "You're still moping?" He asked.

"I'm not moping. I'm happy for you two, honestly."

Matt rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking about me and Allura." Shiro didn't respond, so Matt kept going. "You know it's not too late, right? You've still got a few days."

"I've had a few _months_ ," Shiro lamented. "I just can't do it, Matt. I freeze up and start choking, and he looks at me like I'm freaking him out." He bit his lip. "Maybe it's better this way, you know. I don't want to ruin anything. We're friends now, that's enough for me."

Matt rolled his eyes. "No it isn't."

"No, it isn't," Shiro whined. "But I'll take what I can get."

"Seriously, you're just giving up?" Matt asked, exasperated. "What happened to you? You're the guy who's able to give speeches and talk down teachers, and now you can't even ask a guy a question?"

"This is different, Matt!"

Matt threw up his hands, officially giving up. "Alright. Okay. You wanna be stubborn, I'm not gonna stop you."

"Thank you."

They didn't talk much for the rest of their time there, and after a few minutes Matt picked up his backpack and prepared to leave. "Ok, I'm done with my side." He paused, staring at Shiro's back for a second. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, okay? There will always be other chances."

Shiro nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Matt. See you tomorrow."

Matt waved at him, pulling out his phone again as he walked out the door. Just as he was about to climb down the stairs, a very familiar face came bounding up toward him, out of breath.

Damn, speak of the devil. "Whoa," Matt said, holding his hands out to him. "Hey Keith, what's the hurry?"

Keith stopped for just a moment, turning to him with wide eyes. "Uh-someone told me you and Shiro were cleaning up in the loft-is he still in there? I need to talk to him."

Matt blinked, not sure what to make of this situation. "Yeah, he's...still inside, finishing up."

"Oh, thank goodness," Keith gasped. "Thanks, Matt." Without another word, he pushed past Matt and jogged toward the loft.

Matt watched him go for just a second, a curious look on his face. He had no idea what this was about, but he had a good feeling.

Shiro was slowly stacking up the rest of the mats, in no hurry, really, when he heard someone tap softly on the door. With a tired sigh, he turned the door, ready to tell off whoever was there, but immediately froze.

"Uh-hey," Keith said. "Glad I caught you."

Shiro gaped for a second, looking very much like a scared fish, before he finally composed himself and forced a smile. "Hey, Keith. How's it going?"

"Good, good." He ran a hand through his hair, seeming to avoid eye contact. That wasn't helping Shiro's current lurching stomach. "You need some help there?"

"Sure, just...start folding up the mats over there."

Keith nodded and did as Shiro said. There was a tense silence in the air between them before Keith cleared his throat again. "So, uh...the reason I was looking for you, I wanted to ask you something."

Shiro's heart leapt to his throat. "Yeah?"

Keith hesitated for a long while, long enough for all the rest of Shiro's nerves to jitter. "Well, this is going to sound weird, but...it's actually dating advice."

Shiro raised an eyebrow "Dating advice? Why would you need that? You've got no problem getting dates."

"Yeah, but...all those people have always approached me first." He bit his lip. "B-but now I think I actually like somebody, and I want to ask them to the Spring Formal but I don't know how to go about it. Allura told me to come ask you."

Keith wanted to slap himself in the face as the words came tumbling out of his mouth. What the hell was he doing?

Meanwhile, Shiro's heart sank down to his feet and the world seemed to slow down a little as he processed what he heard. Keith was coming to Shiro for advice on how to ask someone to the dance.

Keith was in love with someone else.

Well, duh. What else had he been expecting?

"Uh." Shiro began quietly. "Not sure why she told you that. Who's the person you want to ask?"

"Just...someone in one of my classes."

"Right, you don't want to tell me. That's fine." His movements were becoming quicker and sloppier now, and as he walked across the room he accidentally kicked a shelf of gym equipment, sending it all falling to the floor.

Shiro sighed. Great, he's reverted back to acting like a fool in front of Keith. What an amazing day he was having right now.

Keith quickly kneeled down and helped him pick up the mess he'd made. "Sorry, is this a bad time?"

"No, it's fine, I'm just a little tired," Shiro replied. He stood up to put the equipment back on the shelf. "I'm not really sure what to tell you, Keith, this isn't really my area of expertise. I say just...be yourself, ask them sincerely."

"If it was you, how would you want it to be?"

Shiro stopped. "If it was me?" _God, I wish._ He turned to Keith, smiling kindly. "Keith, if it was me, I wouldn't be expecting anything. Anybody would be lucky to get asked out by you, you're amazing."

Keith's eyes widened before Shiro could even realize that he'd been a bit too real. Keith looked down at his feet, stiffening again, as Shiro tore his eyes away and went back to his work. "You've got this," he muttered. "I'm sure they'll say yes, whoever they are."

"It's you."

They both froze. Shiro felt like his mind had grounded to a halt, and it took too long to process what he'd just heard. Had he just heard that?

Keith, meanwhile, slapped a hand over his mouth for a second, turning bright red as he tried to explain. "I-I mean-yes, yeah, it's-I-it's you. I'm sorry about beating around the bush-I just, I don't know why I did that, but yes, it you. You're the person I want to ask."

Shiro gaped at him. For a long time. A very long time.

Slowly, when he didn't get an answer, Keith started to calm down and come to himself. What the _hell_ had he been thinking?

"Shit-just forget it!" He grabbed his backpack and started to hurry out of the room. "I'm sorry, just forget I said that!"

"Huh?"

Keith was already out of the room and running down the stairs. Why had he let Allura talk him into this? Of course Shiro didn't want to go with him, the guy had barely just stopped hating him from before. He was an idiot, and if he was lucky, Shiro would just put the whole thing behind him and not bring it up again. If he was lucky.

"Keith, wait!"

Keith didn't stop, not even when he heard Shiro's footsteps following him. "Just forget it, Shiro!"

"Keith, hold on! Wait, I-I was going to say yes!"

Keith gasped, slowing to a stop in the stairwell and turned around. "What?"

Shiro caught up to him and leaned over to catch his breath. "Geez, you're fast," he gasped. Keith gave him a second to recover, and then he stood up straight, a cautious but hopeful expression on his face. "Did you mean what you said?"

Keith nodded, bewildered. "Yeah, of course. I admit this is a little different for me, but, I really like you. You were going to say yes?"

Shiro paused for a few more seconds, then he beamed. Was this real? Was he dreaming? Didn't matter, he was elated. Suddenly, all of the moping and whining he'd been doing for days seemed so trivial and dumb, he couldn't help but laugh. Keith was probably more confused now, but Shiro kept going and wiped his eyes, both in joy and relief.

"Yeah! I've had the _biggest_ crush on you for like a year now!"

"Are you serious?"

"I was too scared to say anything, I thought it would freak you out."

"You idiot," Keith punched him lightly on the shoulder, but joined in on the joyful giggling.

Shiro finished laughing and rubbed his hair in disbelief. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening."

Keith, in response, smiled and stepped forward to give him a hug. Shiro stopped moving her again, sharply inhaling at the close physical contact. Keith was so small and warm, he smelled like trees and old spice, and his hug was soft and hesitant, as if he would let go at any second if he wasn't hugged back.

And hug him back Shiro did. He wanted to hold Keith close forever, protect him, never let him go. But for now, he just settled to wrap his arms around Keith's shoulders, rubbing his back gently with one hand and smiling from ear to ear.

After a moment-one that was too short in Shiro's opinion-Keith pulled away with a small smile. "So, uh. I guess I can text you later. Figure out when to, you know, meet you and stuff."

"Yeah," Shiro replied. "That sounds good. I'll see you later, Keith."

Keith waved happily at him, before turning to contour his way down the stairs.

Shiro watched him go until he disappeared, and then spent a few more seconds in a daze. That had just happened. Right now, that had _actually_ just happened. He'd been prepared to spend the night crying over a bucket of ice cream, but Keith had gone and pulled out the rug from under him. What a typical Keith thing to do-holy _shit_ , that actually just _happened!_

Shiro let a cheer escape him before jumping at the echo and slapping a hand over his mouth. He was still smiling though, and he settled for a silent happy dance nobody could see, hopefully. He had to tell Matt and Pidge about this! He had to tell _everyone_ about this! He felt for his phone in his pocket, but remembered that he'd left everything in the loft when he ran out after Keith. Shiro turned and started running up the stairs, feeling like the luckiest damn guy in the universe.

* * *

 **Next: bully trouble...**


	14. Chapter 14: Spring Formal

Pidge was relieved when the last bell of the day finally rang, releasing her from class. She allowed herself to breathe and start heading out to where she and Matt usually met to walk home together. The past couple days had been...weird, to say the least. Even after making up with Lance and having a good time with her friends afterwards, something still felt...weird. She wasn't sure what it was, but it gave her an uneasy feeling and she was in a hurry to get home.

Pidge stared down at her phone as she walked, scrolling through her uninteresting social media feed, when suddenly she heard someone shouting in her direction.

"Hey, you! Short girl with the glasses!"

Pidge blinked, and looked up to see a few taller girls walking in her direction, looking somewhat annoyed. She raised an eyebrow at them. "Can I help you?"

The three girls paused for a moment, staring down at her as if not sure what to make of her. Then one of them, a tall one with blonde pigtails, spoke. "So, like...there's some rumors. Going around. About you and Lance."

That didn't sound good. Pigtails continued, "A lot of people said they saw him ask you out to the Spring Formal or something? Are you guys, like, dating?"

Pidge needed a few moments to process what they were saying. Something told her that these girls wouldn't take so nicely to an answer of "yes" (not that...that was the answer anyway). She thought she'd seen them hanging out with Lance at some point, and they still looked very annoyed. "No...we're not dating...we're just friends," she said carefully. "We're going to the dance, but with the rest of our friend group. Platonically."

The girls blinked, but seemed relieved. "Oh! I see, that makes much more sense!"

"I told you Lance wouldn't date someone like her," said the second, brunette girl to the third.

"But Brittany said they were hugging," number 3 whispered back.

Pidge could feel the annoyance building up inside her and decided it was best to leave now. "Ok well, if that's all, I think I'll be heading home."

"Wait hold on," Pigtails called, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Since we've got you here, do you mind if I ask you a favor?"

"...what?"

"Tell Lance to save a dance for me?"

The other two looked scandalized, and immediately started asking Pidge to do the same for them. Pidge decided that she now officially hated these chicks.

"I-why would I do that?" Pidge snapped. "I don't even know you people, I'm not going to tell my friend to go dance with someone I don't know."

"Oh don't worry," Pigtails countered. "Lance knows us just fine."

"Then you go ask him yourself." Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose and then turned to leave. "I need to get going, if you don't mind."

Pigtails was fuming now. "What is your problem?" she yelled at Pidge's back. "You can't even do one favor for someone? What a bitch!"

"You know, I bet she actually likes him," Brunette sneered. "He's going with her out of pity and now she wants him all to herself."

"What a joke."

Pidge knew she should just walk away. She knew she should ignore them, but instead she turned her head to snap at them one more time. "Yeah, cry harder, ladies! Platonic or not, he still decided to ditch all of you and hang out with me! Fucking suck on it!"

They continued shouting insults at her, and Pidge just booked it, still too hyped up on anger to regret a damn thing.

* * *

Shiro adjusted his gray tie for the zillion the time, trying to calm his jitters while he stared at himself in the mirror. Keith would be knocking on his door any second now, all dressed up and ready with his car to drive them both off to the dance of his life. Shiro just wanted to make sure he didn't spontaneously combust. Sure, he and Keith had been hanging out for a while, but this was different. He probably had no reason to be nervous, but,really, who wouldn't be?

Matt was currently talking at him through his phone on speaker. Shiro had called him for reassurance and as a distraction, which was working...kind of.

" _Bro, come on, I can literally hear you freaking out from here,"_ Matt said. " _Just take a deep breath, okay? You're gonna be fine."_

"I'm trying, Matt," Shiro replied. "But I'm nervous, okay? You know how much I like Keith. What if it doesn't work out?"

" _Why wouldn't it work out? He's the one who asked you, he obviously likes you just as much. I don't think there's anything you could do that would make him change his mind in one night."_

"I guess..."

" _Look, you guys have been friends for like a month. You two have been talking to each other like you're in your own little bubble. You don't need to do anything different."_

Shiro nodded, mulling over Matt's words for a moment. "Okay. You've got a point. Did you get the picture I sent you? Do I look okay?"

" _You look incredibly sexy, Shiro. Be sure to catch Keith when he swoons."_

Shiro snorted.

" _Hang on, I'm gonna send you a picture too, so you're not alone."_

"Uh, ok. Are you worried that Allura will think you look too nerdy in a suit?"

" _Allura likes that I'm nerdy, that you very much,"_ Matt retorted as he sent a selfie Shiro's way. " _I just wanted you to see how hot I look."_

"Stunning," Shiro responded as he gave the picture a mere glance. He looked at the clock, preparing himself once again for whatever that doorbell rang, then turned back to the phone. "What about Pidge? Is she going?"

" _Oh, uh. Yeah, she is. She's upstairs getting ready right now."_ He paused. " _She seemed awfully excited about it a couple days ago. Dragged me with her to go buy a new dress and everything. Yesterday she came him grumbling so I thought she'd changed her mind, but apparently she still wants to go."_

"Awww," Shiro smiled. "I've never seen her get so excited over a dance before. Does she have a date?"

Matt paused. " _Sort of? She said that she was going as a just friends thing with-"_ Shiro could tell he was frowning here "- _Lance."_

Shiro scoffed. "Ah. Pidge and Lance. I thought I saw... _something_ going on there."

" _I'm so fucking confused, Shiro. She keeps saying it's just platonic, but she sure is treating it like a date. What is Lance even doing? My sister deserves way better than a womanizer like him."_

"Hey Matt, it's going to be fine," Shiro reassured him. "Lance is a friend, he can't be that bad. We're all going to be there with them anyway. And if you're worried, you can talk to Allura about it, she knows him better than we do."

" _That is a good point and I will do that,_ " Matt replied. " _My point is, if he tries anything weird with Pidge, you can expect to find his dead body in the river tomorrow."_

Shiro couldn't help but laugh at that one. And then, just as he was feeling relaxed, the doorbell rang and sent him jumping several feet into the air. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "I think he's here."

" _Awww, yeah, go get him, tiger! Just relax and be yourself, okay? I'll see you there."_

"Okay. Thanks, Matt. Bye."

Shiro pressed the button to end their call and took a deep, long breath. He straightened out his suit again, stood up as confidently as he could, and strode to the door so as to not keep Keith waiting. When he got there, Shiro took a moment to look through the peephole. Keith was shifting back and forth on his front porch, fighting with the sleeves of his jacket and...was he holding a rose? Matt was wrong, it was definitely going to be Shiro who would swoon into Keith's arms tonight.

He took one more deep breath to calm down, then opened the door.

Keith seemed to straighten up when the door opened, a tiny smile forming on his face. He looked so different with the formal clothing and slicked back hair, it was obviously different for him. Also, adorable. "Hey," he greeted softly.

"Hi," Shiro smiled back, already breathless.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long," Keith said hurriedly. "You...you look good. Um. Here." He handed the rose to Shiro, arm straight out like a soldier and probably mentally slapping himself in the process.

But Shiro was just overjoyed. "Thank you," he replied as he gently took the flower (God, he hoped Keith couldn't feel his hands trembling). "You look great too-hang on, let me just put this inside. You can coke in for a second I feel you'd like."

Keith obliged, stepping inside and staying close to the door as Shiro hurried to fill a cup of water for the flower. "Nice place," Keith mumbled, looking around the walls of the house that was only a little bigger than his own tiny apartment.

Shiro put the rose in the cup of water and gently set it on a table. "That should be good enough for now." He turned to Keith with a smile. "So, shall we get going?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They were quiet as Keith led him outside and they both climbed into his small but comfortable car. Keith started the car and headed off, still quiet until they were on the road.

"Hey, so," Keith began. "I feel like I should tell you that...people are probably going to stare." He paused, staring straight at the road. "Everyone's always curious to see who I'm taking to these things-I don't know, for gossiping purposes I guess-and, up till now, I've only ever gone with girls."

Shiro nodded slowly, thinking this over.

Keith continued. "I mean if we just walked in together normally, they'll probably figure I'm not with anyone. But we're going in as dates, so...my point is, we're basically coming out to the whole school." He haphazardly stopped the car at a red light and kept speaking. "I'm sorry, I probably should have talked to you about this sooner. I don't really mind it that much, but if you don't want to do that, we could go have dinner somewhere instead, it's okay with me."

Shiro chuckled at Keith's rambling. "Hey, don't worry about it," he responded gently. "I feel like a lot of people already know that I'm not exactly straight. And besides," he smiled at him. "I'm happy to be here with you, so I don't really care if people are talking."

Keith blinked, motionless until the driver behind them honked loudly for them to move it. Keith cursed at the driver under his breath and started moving again. "Ok, that's good to hear," he said to Shiro. "I'm glad you're not upset that I only just brought it up now."

"Of course I'm not upset."

"Good." He paused. "Anyway...music?"

"You're the driver."

"I don't think you're ready for my music yet."

"Is that a challenge, Kogane?"

Keith laughed. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

After complimenting Allura a million times on her hard work organizing the dance and trying way too hard to show off for her on the dance floor, Matt decided it was time for a snack break. He and Allura were leaning on a wall next to the refreshments table, watching the other students have fun. Matt was looking for two people in particular, but it seemed that for the moment, they had been lost in the crowd.

"You're still worried about Pidge and Lance?" Allura asked him knowingly.

Matt sighed. "Yeah."

Allura placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I told you: you've got nothing to worry about. Lance is a nice person even though he pretends he's a hotshot. He wouldn't do anything to hurt Pidge-at least, not on purpose. If anything goes wrong, I will gladly assist you in murdering him."

Matt blinked in surprise, then started laughing. "Awwww, thanks, Allura, that's so sweet of you." He smiled at her, then coughed. "Uhh, speaking of murder, though...don't look now, but I think some of your admirers might be plotting mine."

Allura frowned, and despite what Matt told her she turned around to look. A few bigger guys were standing nearby, giving the two of them jealous glances and looking like they wanted to pound Matt into the ground.

She flipped them off. Snapped a few words at them that Matt was too stunned to hear. They slunk away like scolded puppies and Allura turned to an awestruck Matt with a proud smile. "They're gone now."

"You are so fucking amazing."

People finally started taking their attention off of them (which was fine by Matt because he didn't want everyone to see how flustered he was when Allura held on to his arm), but they soon had something else to focus on when the doors opened and everyone's favorite emo boy finally walked in with his date.

Both Shiro and Keith looked like a pair of deer in the headlights while people nearby quickly realized that they were holding hands. Then they exchanged a glance and their expressions melted into the most embarrassingly lovestruck smiles Matt had ever seen. Everyone was turning to stare at them as they made their way to the table, and the whispers had already made their way to where Matt and Allura were standing.

"Did Keith Kogane bring a _boy_ to the dance? Is he gay?"

"Isn't that Shiro? That student council guy? Holy shit."

"Oh my gosh, since when? I'm so confused!"

"I think they're kinda cute together..."

But it seemed that Keith and Shiro had already stopped caring. Keith grasped Shiro's hand tightly and led him to the back of the room.

"Well, well, well," Matt began as the two of them walked up to him. "Looks like the star couple is finally here. Just wanted to be fashionably late, I guess?"

"Keith decided to take the scenic route," Shiro replied with a grin. "Or maybe he just got lost, I don't know."

Keith scoffed. "Consider it payback for the camping trip fiasco."

Shiro gave him a nudge.

"Alright, okay," Matt piped up. "Cool it with the PDA, you guys. Geez."

The current song ended, and the music changed to a slower, romantic dance song. This DJ must have had the best sense of timing in the world.

Allura smiled and started tugging on Matt's arm. "Hey, Matt, you wanna go for another dance?"

Matt perked up and grinned. "Sure! Sorry for cutting the conversation short, boys. You two behave, now."

Allura giggled and dragged him away, leaving Keith and Shiro by themselves.

Shiro watched them go with a roll of his eyes before turning to Keith, who was staring up at him bashfully. They both looked shyly down at their shoes for a moment, before Keith cleared his throat. "So, uh. You wanna dance?" He held out his hand to Shiro.

Shiro felt like his smile was going to split his face in two as he eagerly took the other boy's hand. They hadn't even danced yet and he already felt like this was the best night of his life. "Yeah, of course."

The crowd seemed to part for them as they made their way over, and the boys stood face to face as soon as they got there.

"Apologies in advance..." Shiro said. "I'm not much of a dancer."

Keith grinned. "Me neither. I usually just get by on vaguely swaying back and forth." He gingerly placed a hand on Shiro's waist and pulled him slightly closer, before looking up at him. "Heh, I'm...used to being the taller one, so this feels a little...different."

Shiro laughed happily and complied, placing his hand on Keith's shoulder and letting Keith hold his prosthetic hand.

When Shiro had imagined dancing with Keith before, he'd pictured himself leading, as the suave confident guy who would sweep Keith off his feet and woo him with the fantastic dance moves that he would definitely learn sometime. Now the real thing was actually happening, and he wasn't leading, he could barely dance,and instead of being confident he was nothing but a woozy, smiling mess who wasn't actually sure if he was awake or not.

Somehow, this was better.

Keith wasn't joking about the vague swaying, but it didn't really matter. Anything he did right now seemed perfect. Keith was looking up at Shiro with the same goofy expression, looking absolutely gorgeous with his bangs framing those purple eyes. Shiro could kiss him right now. He _actually_ could. He...actually would do it. Right now.

The crowd around them suddenly started cheering, snapping both of them out of their daze. Shiro blinked, wondering what all the fuss was about, and it turned out that the song had just been switched to something faster, and apparently just a very popular song.

Shiro was slightly disappointed that that hadn't gone on longer. But, they had the whole rest of the night to go, and Keith was now holding both his hands with a soft smile.

"You wanna go out to the balcony?" Keith asked.

Shiro, still breathless, just nodded, and let Keith lead him away.

* * *

Lance stretched out his arms and gave a loud sigh. Hunk and Shay we're still on the dance floor for the third song in a row and it didn't look like they'd be stopping soon.

"Well, I'm having a great time standing here and all," Lance said. "But don't you wanna go, you know, dance a bit?"

Pidge shrugged, arms crossed tightly around her chest. "I mean, maybe. On a fast song."

"This is a fast song..."

"Look, I'm just...not good at dancing, okay?"

"Who said you had to be good? What's the point of coming to the dance if you won't _dance?_ "

Pidge bit her lip. "Aren't you worried that people would see us dancing together and think we're dating?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. He spoke quietly. "Since when do you care what people think?"

Pidge didn't respond, and Lance leaned down until he was at her eye level. "Hey," he began. "Talk to me, Pidgeon. What's your deal? I can't read your mind, okay? Communicate with me."

Pidge gave a tiny laugh, then huffed. "Okay, well. Yesterday a couple of your fangirls were giving me a hard time because they thought you and me were dating."

Lance paused for a moment, as if he hadn't heard, then spoke. "I- _what?_ What did they do?"

Pidge shrugged. "Well first they were mad and trying to interrogate me or whatever, but then I said we were just friends so they started asking me to deliver messages and they got pissy and called me a bitch when I said no." She stopped to take a breath, hoping Lance had made sense of that word dump.

Lance's expression had turned into a disgusted scowl. "Unbelievable. I mean, I knew the ladies would go to extreme measures to get my attention-"

Pidge's smile faded.

"-but _not_ to the point of harassing my friends. This is unacceptable. Tell me who did this to you, I'll kick their ass right here at the dance."

Pidge looked at the floor, trying not to flush but failing to hide her smile. "Aww. You'd do that for me?"

Lance flashed a grin to match her cheekiness. "Sure! And besides, Keith got to drag a bitch in front of everyone at a dance, I want to do that too."

Pidge started giggling. She was completely not used to this, she'd usually be embarrassed to _giggle_ over what someone said. But it somehow felt fine with Lance.

Lance seemed proud of himself for making her laugh and leaned in closer to her with a grin. "So, then, dearest Pidge, tell me the name of our...victims."

Pidge rolled her eyes affectionately at him and shrugged. "Unfortunately I didn't get their names-but I know one of them had those stupid blonde pigtails."

* * *

It didn't take long for Lance to locate the girls in question. Pigtails was apparently named Nyma, and her two friends were easy for Pidge to point out. They were gathered with a bigger crowd of kids, taking up an entire corner of the gym to just stand around and look cool, apparently.

"Look at her, surrounded by her group of friends," Lance cackled as he and Pidge looked on. "Ok. We need a plan. How can I completely ruin her night without looking like an ass and still get across the message of 'if you fuck with my friends you're on my shit list.'?"

Pidge scoffed. "Why don't you just walk over there and just say it? It will be in front of all her friends, that would ruin her night."

Lance pouted. "But that's not big enouuuuugh."

"It doesn't have to be big to be effective. Maybe you could walk over there like you're happy to see her but then say something passive aggressive."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Just casually tell all her friends that she's a terrible person or something."

"How can I say that casually?"

"Lance?" Nyma's voice interrupted their argument and made both of them flinch. "Lancey Lance, there you are!"

Lance was already turning to her with a huge smile and widespread arms before Pidge could even react. "Nyma! Girl! Where have you been, I haven't seen you in days!"

Nyma giggled and gave him a quick hug, smiling at him sweetly. "I know, I'm sorry, I've been busy. How have you been, sweetie?"

"Oh, it's been fine, the usual." He gestured to Pidge, who was gaping up at the both of them. "You've met my friend Pidge, right?"

Nyma's grin faltered at the sight of the other girl. She kept up her ruse, but the annoyance in her eyes was obvious. "Oh yeah, we're...acquainted."

Pidge scoffed.

Nyma turned her attention back to Lance. "Anyway, where's everyone else? Keith? Allura? Hunk?"

"They've all got their own hot dates that they're busy with," Lance snickered. "So I'm just hanging out with Pidge here."

"Aww. Well, why don't you come hang out with us? Better company, more girls, better time."

"Uh, what about me?" Pidge piped up.

Nyma blinked, obviously trying not to snap at her to get lost. "Oh. Well. Isn't your brother here somewhere? Maybe you could go chaperone his date or-hack the sound system or something. That sounds fun."

Pidge scowled. "I want to hang out with Lance."

"Yeah, Nyma, what's your deal?" Lance piped up. "She can come hang out with us too."

"I just-don't know if that crowd is really her speed, you know? I'm worried they might not be welcoming to her."

Pidge glanced up at Lance. Lance turned to her with a frown.

Then he sighed. "Sorry Nyma. I'm not going anywhere without Pidge." He pulled away from Nyma and tapped Pidge on the shoulder before leading her away. "Come on, let's go."

Pidge was a little surprised, she had to admit. But she gladly followed Lance quietly. Nyma was still glaring at her as they left, and Pidge could almost feel the anger emanating from that girl.

"Lance, hold on," Pidge whispered, grabbing him by the arm to stop him.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I have an idea about how you can expose her in front of her friends. Pretend you're going to get us some drinks, and then hide somewhere where you can see us."

"Wait, what? How's that supposed to help?"

"Just trust me, okay?" She raised her voice so that the crowd of older teens behind her could hear. "Gee, Lance, I'm pretty thirsty!" She shouted. "We should go get something to drink!"

Lance was still confused but played along. "Aw, no worries, Pidgeon! You stay right here, I'll go grab some drinks for both of us!"

"Wow, that's so gentlemanly of you! Thanks!"

Lance darted off and disappeared somewhere. Pidge took a deep breath and stretched out her arms, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. She snuck some more glances at Nyma, who was still glaring daggers at her. Pidge decided to poke her.

"Isn't he sweet? I get why you wanted to be his date, him going to get drinks and all."

Nyma rolled her eyes and stepped away from her group to face Pidge properly. "He does that with every girl. Don't feel like you're special."

"Really?" Pidge asked thoughtfully. "Because, usually when we hang out-and we hang out a _lot_ -he's always happy to mooch off of people for food. Last time I saw him at a dance, he only ever picked up drinks for himself and let the girl do the same." She grinned sweetly. "Maybe he just changed his attitude! What a great guy."

Nyma seemed even more annoyed. A couple of her friends were asking why she was even still talking to Pidge. Nyma ignored them to walk right over to where Pidge was standing and stare down at her coldly. Good, this was exactly what Pidge wanted.

"Listen up, sweetie." Nyma snapped. "You have absolutely no right to brag. You're not the first girl he's pampered and you won't be the last. Chances are he's just hanging out with you to make himself look better, or because he feels bad for you."

"But it's the last dance before we graduate," Pidge pointed out innocently. "That's gotta count for something, right? Why else did you want him to yourself so badly?"

Nyma fumed. "It doesn't mean a damn thing!" She yelled. Then she crossed her arms again. "He doesn't care about you as much as he says he does, okay? He could never see anything in someone like you. Don't let it get to your head. You're. Not. Special. To him."

Pidge tiled her head. "Neither are you."

Nyma's face slowly turned red, probably less by the insult and more because she couldn't seem to have an effect on Pidge. Without thinking, she grabbed Pidge's wrist tightly, pulling her closer and digging her nails into Pidge's skin.

"Ow! Hey, that hurts-!"

"I don't care!" Nyma snapped. "Keep your fucking mouth shut and stop acting like you're all that! Nobody here likes you, you're just the freaky nerdy kid trying too hard to look cute in a dress and getting a big ego when someone starts feeling sorry for you! Fuck _off!_ You'd make everyone's life so much better if you just-!"

 _"Nyma."_

Nyma stopped, still holding Pidge by the wrists but turning to face the voice. Lance, along with most of Nyma's crowd from earlier, were all staring at her in shock and disappointment. All of them had just seen her bullying a small, helpless girl and despite how much her wrists hurt, Pidge felt so satisfied.

Lance was glaring now, more serious than Pidge had ever seen him. "Let her go, Nyma."

Nyma hesitated, but did as he told her to. The rest of the dance room seemed unaware of what was going on, but this crowd of people on the corner seemed like enough.

Lance continued, this time addressing Nyma's group of friends. "Well, there she is! Your friend Nyma! The girl I was dumb enough to trust. Picking on girls half her size because they make her feel insecure!" He dramatically placed a hand over his heart. "For shame, Nyma, for shame." He paused. "Oh, and also you, Alisha and Tessa. I know what you did."

Brunette and Number three froze for a second before trying to slink away from the judging eyes of their friends.

"Lance, I didn't _do_ anything!" Nyma cried, desperately trying to fix things. "She provoked me! She was pissing me off on purpose and trying to act like she's-like, the greatest thing ever!"

Lance laughed loudly. "Uh, yeah? She _is_ the greatest thing ever! Honestly, you _should_ be jealous, Pidge is better than all of you! She's smarter, cooler, prettier-I'd rather hang out with her than with _ten_ groups this size! You can cry and scream about it for all I care, but _don't!_ Don't you _dare_ touch her!" He stood up straight again and strode toward Pidge, gently taking her arm. "Anybody who fucks with my friends is on my shit list, got it? Don't ever speak to me again, thanks."

He tugged on Pidge's shoulder, before turning to walk away dramatically. Pidge followed. She glanced behind her once more time, as Nyma's friends were also turning their backs on her.

Pidge breathed a sigh of relief as they got further away. "Nice timing," she said to Lance.

"Are you insane?" Lance snapped at her. " _That_ was your plan? Make her attack you?"

"She didn't hurt me that much," Pidge retorted. "Instead of just telling people what she did, I figured we could make her get caught red-handed. And besides, didn't you enjoy playing the knight in shining armor?"

Lance scoffed. "Jesus, Pidge, you're a madwoman. I don't know whether to admire you or be disappointed."

"Admire, apparently." Pidge looked at the floor again with a smile. "Judging by what you said. That...wasn't part of the plan. Did you mean it?"

Lance blinked, blushing slowly and looking at the ceiling. "What? The stuff about you being smart and cool and pretty? I-sure, yeah. Why not?"

Pidge laughed softly. "Well. Thanks." A pause, and then. "I don't mind going for that dance now."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "But they're on a slow song now."

"Do you wanna dance at this dance or not?"

Lance blinked, but then smiled and offered her hand. "Lead the way, Pidgeon."

* * *

The balcony was a lot quieter than the inside of the building, and fairly empty despite being warm out. Shiro and Keith had both taken off their jackets and were leaning on the railing, staring up at the sky. The stars looked gorgeous, but then again it was impossible for anything to look ugly right now.

They were quiet, but it wasn't awkward. Shiro didn't feel the need to fill the silence with words when Keith's shoulder was comfortably pressed against his own. He still couldn't believe this was real.

Nevertheless, Keith ended up breaking the silence with a content sigh. "I kinda like it better out here," he told him. "Being surrounded by people is exhausting."

Shiro smiled. "That doesn't include me, right?"

"Of course not," Keith nudged him lightly. "But, I mean, if you wanna go back inside, I don't mind."

"Nah." He turned to Keith with the happiest smile. "This is perfect."

Keith looked surprised for a second, but then laughed softly. Shiro's heart soared. Keith was...beautiful. He'd always know that, of course, but now, standing he so close to him, under the stars, Keith smiling at him like that...how was it possible for anyone to make him this happy just by existing?

He wanted to kiss him. It was the perfect opportunity. Shiro's eyes darted from the eyes, to the lips, back again. It would be so easy to just lean forward and kiss him. What was he waiting for? What did he have to lose?

Keith was silent, watching him closely. But just as Shiro was still psyching himself up, Keith looked away.

Shiro blinked, a little disappointed, but Keith didn't move away from him. He looked thoughtful now, as if he had something to say but didn't know how to put it.

"You know," Keith finally began. "I'm...glad you're here, Shiro. You have no idea how scared I was to ask you to this."

Shiro laughed. "I think I know the feeling. If you hadn't asked me, I probably would have just pined over you forever. Thanks for taking the plunge. I owe you big time."

Keith seemed surprised. "Oh. Uh, yeah. I was scared of rejection. That's it." He composed himself again before Shiro could ask, and sent that dazzling smile his way again. He reached over with his hand to take Shiro's metal one, intertwining their fingers together on the railing. "But I'm...glad it worked out."

Shiro squeezed his hand, not taking his eyes off him for a second. "Me too." And he couldn't be happier.

 **Next: Keith finally talks about his past**


	15. Chapter 15: Secrets

"Next question."

Pidge flipped to a random page in their biology textbook and ran her finger down the page until she stopped on a line. "Uhh, Ok. What are the bottom chambers of the heart called?"

"Ventricles," Matt responded without missing a beat.

"Which ventricle pumps blood out to the body?"

"Left. The muscle around it is thicker because it's stronger. Next."

Pidge flipped to another page. "What are fat cells called?"

"Adipose cells—come on Pidge, give me something harder."

"Fine." Flip. "What happens at a synapse?"

At this, Matt turned his head from where he was lying on the floor to give Shiro a deadpan look. "The message is put into a package and shipped across the gap."

Shiro looked up from his own book for just a second, only to give Matt a cheeky grin.

"The fuck..." Pidge muttered. "I mean, I guess that's one way to put it."

"Give credit to Shiro, he made up that metaphor to impress his boyfriend."

"Wow, really? What a nerd."

"Well, it worked," Shiro said with a shrug. "But he's not my boyfriend. Well, not yet. Hopefully soon."

Matt rolled his eyes and Pidge shut the book. "Okay, break time. Time to bother Shiro and make him tell us all the dirty details about his new life with Keith."

Shiro shot her a look. "There aren't any dirty details. We've just been hanging out since the dance." He paused. "And, we've got a date tonight. No big deal."

"Oooooh!" Matt teased loudly. "A date! And to think that just a few months ago, you couldn't even talk to him. We're so proud of you, Shiro. You've come so far."

"Thanks."

"Where are you going? What are you gonna do? How did he ask you? Details."

Shiro sighed. "We're going to see a movie and he asked me over text yesterday."

"Pfff, lame," Pidge replied. "I bet he's trying to look all chill about it. What did he say exactly?"

"Does it matter? Look, can we maybe go back to studying?"

"But it's fun making you get all flustered," Pidge said innocently. "Has he kissed you yet?"

"No."

"Uh-oh. He had no problems kissing his girlfriends like a day after the first date. You sure everything's going alright?"

"That was different-" he looked up, expecting to see Pidge look concerned, but instead she was just smiling at him playfully. He frowned. "Hey Pidge. Keep this up and I'll have no choice but to start asking about _your_ crush."

Pidge's smile disappeared. "I don't have-" she stopped. Then she turned away with a pout. "Dammit."

Shiro smiled triumphantly and went back to his book. Matt looked up from the floor again. "Uh for the record, I was not involved in that. At all."

Shiro's phone buzzed and he pulled it out to see a text from Keith. It was a dumb meme of a hippo that made him snort. Pidge, despite being put in her place, leaned over curiously to take a look.

She patted him on the shoulder. "Damn, never mind, I had nothing to worry about. He's sending you memes? That's the most romantic shit ever."

* * *

He met up with Keith at a tiny theater down the street, where the other boy was looking equally as excited.

Shiro gave him a quick hug as he arrived. "Hey. How are you?"

"Fine," Keith shrugged casually. "I just bought the tickets. You wanna get the popcorn?"

"Sounds fair. You want soda?"

Keith grinned. "If you don't mind spending a little extra, sure."

"I mean, I don't wanna look like I'm throwing my money around, but..."

Keith laughed softly, and they got in line.

"You seen this movie before?" Shiro asked.

Keith shook his head. "No, but some of the girls in my class told me it was a great date movie, so why not."

"And you're listening to them?"

"Hey, if it sucks, at least we can riff on it, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Sounds romantic."

Keith laughed for the second time-not that Shiro was keeping track or anything.

They got their popcorn, went into the theater, made fun of all the trailers, and sat through the first half of this sappy romcom. Everything was going well. Until it wasn't.

At some point during the movie, when the slimy and manipulative Duke character was having a conversation with the female lead, Keith suddenly got up and started to leave. He muttered something about needing to use the bathroom and darted out of the theater.

Shiro was confused, but waited patiently for him to come back. But when Keith was gone for over twenty minutes, Shiro began to worry. He somehow managed to grab all their stuff, apologizing softly to the other audience members as he made his way to the exit. He found the bathroom and pushed the door open, not really sure what he was expecting but surprised to find Keith standing in front of a sink, not washing his hands or doing anything in particular, really.

Keith looked like a deer caught in headlights when Shiro walked in, and it didn't help ease Shiro's concern. Had he been crying? It was hard to tell.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Shiro took a few steps closer to him, but Keith stopped him by holding up a hand.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Keith replied. He sounded like a shy and helpless little kid, nothing like what Shiro was used to. "I just...can we not finish the movie? I kinda wanna go home."

"...Yeah, sure, it's no problem. I didn't really like it anyway-but, what happened? You just left so suddenly, did something bother you?"

"Sort of...but I don't want to talk about it."

Shiro frowned, but didn't push it. Keith walked out ahead of him until they were both on the street, right where they had met up just minutes before.

"I'm sorry," Keith finally spoke up again. "I didn't mean to ruin our date, Shiro, but I...think I need to be alone for a little while."

"It's okay," Shiro said softly. "Do you want me to walk you home, at least?

"No, I...I'll be okay." Another pause, then he turned to leave. "See you tomorrow."

Shiro stood still in his spot until he saw Keith turn a corner. What had just happened? Had _he_ done something? The uneasy feeling at the pit of his stomach told him that he had. Dammit, this wasn't good. He'd spent so long wanting nothing more than to spend time with Keith, and he'd hate himself forever if he'd gone and fucked it up.

Shiro was tense during his whole drive home, and when he got there he found himself staring at the blank screen of his phone. He wanted to call Keith and ask him if he was alright, what had happened to him. He wanted answers, but Keith hadn't seemed to be in the mood to talk. As upset as he was, he might make it worse if he kept being pushy.

So in the end, Shiro just spent the rest of his evening normally, or at least, as normally as he could when he felt like his life was on the brim of falling apart. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

It was right before class the next day that Shiro decided he couldn't take it anymore and found Keith in the hall.

Keith had figured it wouldn't take too long for him to ask. He hadn't intended for their date to go sour, but the movie...that character in that movie, he'd just reminded Keith of things he'd rather forget. Which had led to him remembering why he'd been hesitant to date Shiro in the first place and...it had all just been too much. He needed some time to sort himself out, and he didn't want Shiro to see.

But that meant that when Shiro confronted him the next day, Keith didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to tell him, other than the truth that would scare him off?

"Did I do something?" Shiro was asking nervously. "Did I make you uncomfortable? If I did, you can tell me, I won't be mad."

Keith shook his head. "No, you didn't do anything. I...I just kind of remembered something and...it made me feel nervous, so I had to leave."

Shiro just looked confused. There was something in his eyes that made it seem like he was terrified of Keith pushing him away, but instead he put all his attention into making sure Keith was okay. It just made Keith feel worse.

"It was that Duke character," Keith stammered. "I didn't like him. I know he was supposed to be a scumbag, but he reminded me of someone else, and that made me think of why I was so scared to be with you-"

Shiro looked like he'd been punched in the gut. "What?"

"Wait no no no-shit." Keith balled both his hands into fists taking a m,net to ground himself. Shiro probably hated him right now, just like he had before, except now it was even worse. "No, I...that came out wrong. I _do_ want to hang out with you, I just..." he trailed off again, wondering why Shiro hadn't stormed off by now.

Then, he just gave a deep, long sigh. "I...probably owe you an explanation. There's a lot of things you don't know about me, and I'm not sure that you want to."

Shiro hesitated, but held his ground. "Keith, I...I don't know what you're talking about right now. But if you want to talk about it, I don't mind listening. We can take as much or as little time as you need."

Keith glanced up at him pitifully. "I'm afraid it will drive you away. But you deserve to know," he murmured. "Ok, I'll tell you. But not...here."

Shiro nodded, turning around to lead Keith somewhere more private. There were still several people hanging around the halls right now, so they ended up walking in silence until they got outside. There was an abandoned corner of a building away from the sun, where nobody would be able to hear them if they talked. Shiro set down his backpack and sat on the ground, waiting for Keith to do the same.

Keith flopped down and pulled the hood over his head. "Alright. The explanation for why I'm acting weird. I guess the short version is that I had an abusive boyfriend, and the movie reminded me of him, but there's...a lot more to it." He frowned. "I've wanted to talk about it for a while, but I never found someone I've trusted enough. It's...a lot."

Shiro nodded slowly. "Well...if you trust me, then I've got plenty of time."

"You sure?" Keith asked, raising an eyebrow apprehensively. "Cause I'm basically about to tell you my whole life story."

"And I'm going to listen."

Keith blinked in surprise at Shiro's quick response, then nodded. He folded his hands together in his lap, mentally preparing himself. Shiro waited patiently for him to start.

"Okay," Keith said. "Well. I'm not quite sure where to start...you know how i'm a foster kid, right?"

Shiro nodded.

"It's been...fine, for the most part," he mused. "Pretty much all the families I've stayed with were alright. But I guess I'm not lucky enough to get out unscathed." He gulped. "So when I was like...fourteen, I stayed with this couple who had this other kid. And I don't know what happened with him, I thought he was alright at first, if just a little bit creepy. And I guess he decided that he liked me. A little too much. He didn't back off when I told him to. And then he jumped me."

Keith stopped, not daring to look at Shiro. The other was quiet, simply waiting to see if he'd continue. Keith's knuckles were white from how much he was squeezing his hands together, and for a moment he considered stopping. But he'd already started, and he was going to finish. He hadn't even gotten to the important part yet.

"I managed to fight him off before he could do anything," he continued quietly. "Made a big fuss about it, and soon I was moved away so he couldn't hurt me again."

"That's good," Shiro responded. Keith blinked, a little amused that of all the things he'd just said, Shiro had only reacted to the part where he came out of it okay.

"Yeah," said Keith. "If only it had stopped there. What he did scared me. It felt like I'd lost control of something in my life. I hated the feeling." He sighed, then continued. "So, I went to a new school, and as usual I had some trouble making friends. Combined that with the fact that I was still fucked up over my old foster brother, and I guess I was easy to take advantage of. I met Lotor. He was nice to me, he was attractive and mature. He had a way of getting into your head."

Keith had to stop again for a moment. The bitter scowl on his face at the memory was probably visible, but he didn't try to hide it. He pushed on.

"Eventually, somehow, we started dating. And it started off alright. I-I don't know when I realized but...at some point I started to get the feeling that he was manipulating me. _Using_ me. I-I don't know what it was, it's all such a blur. Something about his status, o-or his family, I don't know what he was using me for, but I had the feeling. Maybe he just wanted a sex slave. I don't know. He always made me feel like _I_ was in control, at least in that aspect. And that's all I wanted, _control_ over myself and my body. He made me think I had that."

Keith stopped again, realizing that he'd raised his voice. As he slowly calmed himself down, he felt Shiro's strong hand on his shoulder, grounding him. Keith briefly wondered in the back of his head how Shiro could stand to touch him after what he'd just told him, but he didn't dwell on it and just focused on continuing.

His posture slumped. "I didn't have it. He was the one pulling all the strings, always demanding more, and I was too dumb to leave because he made me feel really _good._ And it just kept getting worse and worse until...until I left." He took a breath, finally past the hard part. "I moved to a new foster family, like I always did, and that's the only thing that got me out of that relationship. I was a mess at that time. Nothing felt right. Then I moved in with Coran, I met Allura and her dad. They didn't know about everything that had happened, but it was because of them that I started to...get better, I guess. Come back to myself. I don't understand how I got popular, I figured it was just because nobody knew. But having friends who liked me did help."

He'd finally given his hands a break from squeezing them, and was now nervously rubbing them together. "Anyway, when I finally felt comfortable enough to start dating again, I decided to just stick with girls. Every experience I'd had with a guy thus far had been terrible, so, like an idiot, I thought that sticking with girls was the solution. And then, you showed up."

Keith still didn't look at Shiro as he spoke, almost afraid of his reaction. But there was an amused smile on his face as he continued talking. "You showed up and just...shattered all those walls. With your nice smile and your cool attitude and commanding presence. Damn you, I was helpless."

"I-I didn't mean to-"

Keith patted his hand gently to stop him. "No, it's okay. I know you're good. I know you're nothing like him. You've never asked me to do anything I didn't want or rush anything. But I guess I was still afraid. I know, it's dumb. I just thought you deserved to know why I...why I was being so nervous with you. It's not your fault, it's me." He frowned. "Shiro. I really like you. If we're going to be together, I would want it to be serious. But if you decide that you don't want that, that you don't want to deal with all my baggage, then it's okay. I won't blame you. I'd just rather you tell me now instead of later."

Keith finally stopped, tensing up once more as he awaited Shiro's response. Shiro was quiet for a long time. When he spoke, it was quiet, gentle.

"Keith," Shiro said. "Thanks for telling me. It means a lot that you'd trust me enough." He squeezed Keith's shoulder gently, prompting Keith to finally, slowly look up at his face. "You know, I understand if you're nervous. It's completely normal to be scared after a bad experience. Even until now, I get a little scared whenever I get into a car." He took a second to look down at his prosthetic and flex his fingers. "But-Keith, I can promise you-I'd never try to hurt you or use you. I know we haven't known each other for that long, but you're really special to me. If you want to be with me, it would make me the happiest person in the world, baggage or no baggage."

Keith gaped at him, somehow not quite able to register what Shiro was saying. "I-are you serious? So you're not at all disgusted or weirded out by what I just said?"

"No, of course not," Shiro replied instantly. "Keith, I'm _proud_ of you. You were put through something horrible, you were hurt by horrible people, but you made it out, you got back up again. That's amazing. _You're_ amazing."

Keith's eyes were welling up now. How could Shiro possibly be so kind? How was he able to make him feel special after everything he'd just told him? It didn't make sense. The first tear rolled down his face and Keith hurriedly wiped him away. He was happy, he was smiling, and he was crying like a fucking baby. "I-oh my gosh. And you still want me. Y-you still want to be with me."

"If you'd let me, yeah."

A sob. "I-sorry, I just, I can't believe it."

"Need a hug?"

Keith nodded and scooted himself closer into Shiro's waiting arms, burying his face into his shoulder and holding on as tightly as he could. Shiro was so warm and strong and kind and he didn't deserve him, really. But he'd be damned if he let go. All of his previous concerns about their relationship seemed so stupid right now, but Keith didn't think about it. Right now, the only thing that he regretted was getting his tears and snot all over Shiro's shirt.

Shiro was hugging him close, comfortingly rubbing his back and resting his chin on Keith's head. "You're so strong, Keith, you know that?"

They didn't know quite how long they stayed that way. But eventually, Keith drained himself out, and just felt tired and his butt was getting numb from sitting there. His sobs by now were just reduced to mere hiccups.

Shiro shifted his head slightly. "You okay?" He asked gently.

"Yeah," Keith whispered. He pulled away from Shiro, but not too far, wiping away the last of his tears and smiling unabashedly up at him. "Thank you."

Shiro blushed the slightest bit and shrugged. "Yeah, of course. Sometimes you just gotta cry on someone's shoulder, you know?"

Keith laughed softly. "Yeah." He was still smiling at Shiro like he's just found a treasure, wondering where the hell Shiro had been all his life and how he'd ever been stupid enough to not notice him for so long.

He leaned forward and kissed him. Short, chaste, just a little peck on the lips to how his appreciation. Nothing further than that for now.

But then Shiro completely froze. Keith blinked, suddenly fearing that he'd overdone it. "Uh—are you okay?"

Shiro looked like a gaping fish, face red as one of his hands flew to his mouth. "Uh—." His voice came out all high pitched and nervous. "I-I wasn't quite ready for that..."

Keith laughed again, warmth blooming in him once more as he rubbed Shiro's shoulder affectionately. "Oh, geez, sorry. I probably should've asked first."

"No it's okay, just—god, Keith, I've wanted to kiss you forever. You could have at least let me psych myself up a bit first."

They were holding each other again, no tears this time, and Keith just kept laughing. Their conversation continued in snippets, but for the most part they were content to just sit there. And honestly, Keith wouldn't mind staying like that forever.

 **Next: the grand finale**


	16. Chapter 16: Shiro and Keith

"So...now that the year is almost over, there's something I'd like to say."

The council looked up at Allura's voice, curious, as she stood with Shiro at the front of the room.

Allura smiled and continued. "Shiro and I have been with the student council for several years, as you know, and it's been a blast. But, we're graduating soon."

Shiro nodded. "Yeah, and since it's our last meeting for the year, we just thought we'd say thanks, you know, for all the good times. It's been an honor."

A few of them started to clap. Someone shouted from the back, "Shiro, my dude, you're gonna make me cry, man."

Everyone laughed. Allura see the attention to herself once more. "Don't worry, we're not completely done yet. We still need to worry about the graduation ceremonies."

"The juniors will be doing most of the work, of course," Shiro added cheekily.

"Hey!" One of the junior girls cried, and others in her grade voice their agreement.

Shiro just laughed. "Hey, we had to do it for our seniors, now it's your turn."

"We might help a little bit," said Allura. The protests died down into playful whining from there. Allura started to gather up her stuff. "Okay! Council adjourned for the last time, but keep an eye on your texts, and we'll hopefully see you guys at the baccalaureate ceremony."

The students all started to gather their stuff and leave. Several of them gave Shiro and Allura some heartfelt goodbye hugs, keeping them in the room longer than usual, but they didn't really mind. Eventually, both of them were finally able to leave and they started walking together to go meet up with their friends.

"' _It was an honor?_ '" Allura giggled. "What is this, the military?"

"I thought it would sound dramatic," Shiro replied. "Anyway, I guess we're pretty much done now. I'm getting kind of emotional."

Allura smiled and shook her head. "Yeah. Leadership was kind of hell, but I'm going to miss it." She looked down at her phone to check the time. "Damn, we ran late. Hope the others don't start yelling at us."

"What? Why would they be mad?"

Allura laughed. "Well, maybe not mad. But Keith might be a little grumpy. He always gets that way when he's waiting for you to show up."

Shiro blinked. "He does?"

"Yeah—oh my gosh, you have no idea. He starts out every day looking like a zombie, but as soon as you show up? Lights up like a Christmas tree. Shiro's here!"

Shiro smiled widely and looked at the ground, as if Allura couldn't see it. "You're exaggerating."

"I am not," Allura nudged him playfully. "You can see for yourself right now." She nodded toward their group of friends, who were coming into view right at that moment. They hadn't seemed to notice Shiro and Allura approaching yet.

Shiro almost snorted at the sight of Keith, who was crossing his arms grumpily and leaning against the wall. He looked very much like an impatient child waiting to open his birthday presents, and was only just shrugging while everyone else laughed at some joke. Shiro and Allura got closer, and the others finally noticed them and looked up.

Just like Allura had said, Keith beamed at the sight of him. Lit up like a Christmas tree. Holy shit. Shiro loved him so much.

The others all shouted their greetings at each other, and Shiro stepped to the side to give Keith a warm hug and kiss on the forehead. "Hey," he said quietly to him. "Did I keep you waiting for too long?"

Keith was already cuddled against him as if he was a teddy bear, and nodded. "Yes," he replied simply. "But it's okay."

"Can you guys maybe, like, get a room?"

"Shut up, Lance."

Since it was obvious that those two would be glued to each other for the rest of the lunch period, the others simply rolled their eyes and turned back to their conversation.

"So what do you guys plan on doing over summer?" Hunk asked.

"Maybe get a summer job," Matt replied with a shrug.

"Seriously, dude?" asked Lance. "It's your last summer before college, live a little."

"Just getting a head start on paying off that debt."

"...wow, that's incredibly depressing. Anybody wanna talk about something fun?"

"I agree with Matt," Allura piped up. "And besides, you can work _and_ have fun, Lance. They're not mutually exclusive."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I just hope you two responsible adults still have time to go on vacation. I want to take a road trip and go to the beach."

"Another road trip?" Keith piped up from his spot in Shiro's arms. "Just don't give Lance the GPS."

"Or, we could go to the SpaceMaster Con down in LA!" Pidge said excitedly. "I hear the whole cast is going to be there, and there's gonna be a whole exhibition on the robots they use in the movie!"

"Yeah!" said Lance. "And, then we could go to the beach, right?"

"You know, my mom and I have been talking about going to Europe over the summer," said Hunk. "Maybe we could all pitch in and make it a group trip."

"Oooh!" Allura exclaimed. "Yeah, we could just take a whole month in Europe, that sounds like fun."

"I say we ditch finals week altogether and start our summer Early," Lance suggested. "Then we could go to all the cons and all the European vacations we want."

"Wow, an entire extra week of summer," Pidge said cheekily. "That's gonna make such a big difference."

"Yeah yeah, make fun of me all you want, Pidgey, but you know you'd love an extra week of summer. Just admit it, you think I'm brilliant."

Pidge giggled.

"Guys, I'm not even joking about the Europe thing," Allura continued. "I want to do it. Hunk, call your mom and tell her I'm going to help her organize that,"

"Allura, sweetie, aren't you tired of planning trips?" Matt asked with a smile. "I thought you said that planning the camping trip took a lot out of you."

"Well yeah, but that was a while ago, Mattie," Allura responded. "I'm ready to take on another insane trip."

Hunk looked over to Shiro and Keith, who were no both leaning against the wall, holding hands and watching the others talk.

"You two done making out? You wanna contribute to the conversation now?"

Shiro laughed and shrugged. "I don't know, I'm probably just going to get a job like Matt."

"I'm going to sleep," Keith said.

"All summer?" asked Shiro.

"Yes. You're welcome to join me if you want."

"Wh-Keith!" Shiro covered his face in embarrassment. Keith just grinned triumphantly and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"Yeah, ok, I asked if you'd were _done_ ," Hunk sighed, rolling his eyes. "You could have just said no."

"Pssh, how come you two get to do all the PDA cuddling?" Matt pouted. "I want a hug too."

Allura obliged, squeezing Matt tightly around the waist. Matt made a slight choked noise but generally seemed happy.

"Oh come on," Hunk whined. "Shay's not even here today, don't go pairing off and having a cuddle fest without me."

"Hey Hunk, Pidge and I are still here with ya," said Lance.

Hunk glanced from Lance to Pidge and back. "Anyway, like I said, I'm the only one here without a partner and I feel left out."

Lance took a second to realize what Hunk was implying, and tried unsuccessfully to hide his blush with a roll of his eyes.

The bell rang right then, signaling that it was time to go to class. The group split, but luckily Keith and Shiro had their next class together and continued holding hands as they headed down the hall.

People would still stare at them sometimes, and today a few of them even waved, but for the most part, they'd been thankfully left alone. But not today.

After fifth period ended and the school day was over, the couple was heading out to the doors when they were stopped by a shorter girl with glasses and a large smile. Shiro recognized her, that was...the reporter girl from the school newspaper, right? Maria, apparently.

"Hi guys," she asked cheerfully. "Do you mind being interviewed for an article in the newspaper's School Life section? I promise it won't take long."

"School life? You mean the gossip column?" Keith deadpanned.

Maria pouted. "It's not a gossip column, Keith, nothing is published without your consent."

"Oh, kinda like how you wrote that article about Jennifer's party-"

" _Policy change,_ " Maria huffed. "Are you guys okay with an interview or not?"

Keith glanced at Shiro, who shrugged and smiled at her. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

Maria beamed, and leaned toward them with her notepad like a curious fan. "Everyone wants to know how you two got together-it was like, completely out of left field for most of us, so we wanted to know the details."

The boys blinked, and Shiro gave a hollow laugh. "I-is it really that big of a surprise?"

"I got this," Keith assured him. "See, what happened was, we were on our way to the senior camping trip, but we got lost on the road. We found ourselves deep in the wilderness. Shiro and I ended up alone, and then...well, primal in tin they took over, and we-"

"Wha-whoa, wh...no, stop, that's not what happened." Flustered, Shiro lightly elbowed Keith in the side, only for the other to give him a playful, mischievous grin. He turned to the wide-eyed reporter. "We found a hotel and stayed in it with all our friends. Keith and I woke up early and went to get some apples and doughnuts."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "My version is sexier."

"Sexier, yes," Shiro coughed. "But also fake." He turned to Maria again. "Write down, ' _first date was getting cheap hotel breakfast.'_ "

"I thought our first date was the dance."

"Well, maybe officially but...that breakfast meant a lot to me." He gave Keith a pitiful look, and Keith quickly caved.

"Fine. Breakfast. But make it a fancy continental breakfast at least."

Maria was watching in silent fascination. Now that they were addressing her again, she could do nothing but shrug. "I-have no idea what's going on. Just tell me what to write."

"Ok, we'll compromise," said Shiro. "Continental breakfast at a hotel in the woods."

Keith sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fiiiiiiine."

* * *

Lance was sitting at one of the quad tables after school, waiting for the rest of their friends to show up so they could actually go and do something. Hunk and Shay were the only other people there so far, but thankfully they were doing a good job of not making Lance feel like a third wheel. For the most part.

Lance was in the middle of listening to Hunk and Shay have a heated debate about some new movie, when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

Lance looked up to see Matt standing over him, arms crossed tensely and face indecipherable.

"Hey, uh. Can I talk to you for a second?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. Matt never seemed interested in talking to him alone, and he didn't look too happy right now. "Okay..."

Lance excused himself from the group and followed Matt over to a secluded part of the room. "Uh, so, what's up?"

Matt looked nervous, but determined. "Look, it's...you and Pidge. What's the deal with you two?"

Lance's eyes widened and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Oh that? I-I mean, I don't know. We're kinda like...friends, but like..." he noticed the annoyed look on Matt's face. "Well, we're not dating, or anything, but like..."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Ok, I have no idea what that means, but here's the thing. She likes you."

Lance brightened. "She does? Er, I mean-of course she does, all the girls like me."

"And that's exactly why I'm here," Matt retorted. "Look, I don't want to sound like the overprotective big brother, but you've got kind of uh...reputation. As a ladies' man. Aaaaand now you're trying to get involved with my sister, sooooo."

Lance blinked. The smile on his face faded as he started to catch Matt's drift. "Oh, I see," he said. "Ok, fine, I understand. I'll back off."

"That's not what I meant," Matt sighed. "I consider you a friend, Lance. I want to trust you, and I want Pidge to be happy. So, just, I don't know, give me a reason to trust you."

Lance thought for a moment. "If I ever do anything to hurt Pidge, you have full permission to punch me in the face."

Matt seemed surprised for a second, then rolled his eyes. "Yeah okay-you know she can do that herself, right?"

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be satisfying to get a punch in yourself?"

Matt pursed his lips together. "That is a tempting offer."

"Look, I know I can be kind of an idiot," Lance admitted. "And yeah, I've tried too hard to be a ladies' man in the past, but Pidge...she's different. I don't know how to explain it, but, if she really does like me, then I must have done something right for once." He gave Matt another sidelong grin. "You can hate me as much as you want, but I'd hate myself a lot more if I passed up the chance to be with someone like her."

Matt thought this over for a long time. Then he sighed. "Fine. I'll let you go for now. But I've got my eye on you-and I'll remember that thing you said about the punching."

Lance beamed. "Thanks, man!" He clapped Matt on the shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief. "You had me scared for a second there. I never thought you'd be the old fashioned type."

Matt rubbed his shoulder and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know, that you'd make me ask permission to date your sister."

Matt flushed in embarrassment. "I—no, it's not exactly like that. I mean, Pidge wanted to approve of Allura before I dated her too. It's a sibling thing, we look out for each other."

"Hmm, okay," Lance shrugged. "I guess my family's just different then. I didn't meet my sister's husband until after she's already married him." He laughed. "But anyway, it's all good now, right?"

Matt sighed. "Yeah. Fine. We're good. Whatever."

"That makes me part of the family now, right?"

"No."

"You and me, we're like brothers."

"You're pushing your luck. Stop it."

* * *

The sun was warm the next day after they'd been released from graduation rehearsal. Keith was dressed comfortably, a pair of red-rimmed sunglasses sitting on his face as he sat back on the bench. Allura had suggested they all go to a nearby park, so as to "not let this gorgeous day go to waste" or whatever flowery language she'd used. Lance had jokingly called it a "quadruple date," which was dumb considering that this was just the same group of people they hung out with all the time.

Shiro had apparently taken the joke seriously to some degree though. He'd insisted on buying Keith a milkshake on their way over to the park, and Keith just couldn't resist that pleading face of his.

So now they were seated on a bench, happily sipping their milkshakes and watching their friends goof off. This park was meant for children, and now all these teenagers showed up and started stomping all over the place...Keith was satisfied to just sit back on a bench and pretend he didn't know them.

Keith was brought out of his little daze when he noticed that Shiro was staring at him. Smirking, he turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Shiro jumped, apparently embarrassed at being caught. "Uh, nothing, sorry."

Keith rolled his eyes, forgetting about the heat for a moment and scooted closer. "Can I taste yours?"

Shiro obliged, tilting his cup so Keith could take a sip from the straw. Shiro's drink was saturated with various fruity flavors that made Keith cringe just a little.

"It's so sour."

Shiro snickered and took a sip from his drink. "Probably just because you've been drinking the chocolate."

"The superior flavor, obviously."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

Keith huffed into his straw, but scooted even closer so Shiro could put an arm around his shoulders. It would have been a moment of quiet peace if they didn't have to witness Lance get his foot stuck in one of the kiddie ladders and dangle upside down while screaming like a baby. Hunk was trying to get him free and Pidge looked like she was questioning her entire life.

Keith just turned back to Shiro. "You wanna ditch them and go somewhere else?"

Shiro laughed. "Why? You're not having a good time on the big quadruple date?"

"Shut up, don't you dare parrot Lance," Keith nudged him with his elbow and Shiro was still grinning. "It would be a better date if we were alone."

Shiro's smile softened. "Really?"

"Yeah." Keith didn't look at him and just took another sip, not sure what else to say from there.

Shiro picked it up for him. His eyes didn't move away from Keith as he gently rubbed a thumb over Keith's shoulder and said, "I love you."

Keith whirled his head around to face him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. It had been...a while since he'd heard that from anyone, especially someone who meant it. Shiro mirrored his expression, looking surprised by his own words as if they had just slipped out without him meaning for them to. But he maintained his gaze, waiting to see how Keith would react.

And Keith melted, the biggest and happiest smile forming on his face and leaning closer, his response ringing loud and clear with just his body language. He laughed joyfully, and Shiro did the same, embarrassed but happy.

Keith looked up to him once more. "Hey," he said softly. "Can I get another taste of your milkshake?"

Shiro looked a little confused, but he nodded and held the cup out to him. But Keith surged forward, bypassing the cup and going straight for Shiro's mouth. Shiro stumbled backwards at the forceful kiss, but quickly bounced back and returned the kiss with just as much vigor. It was just as amazing as their first one, but also better somehow.

Their friends were yelling something at them, probably teasing, but they didn't care. They were in their own little world, and it was better than either of them had ever imagined.

 **~Fin~**

* * *

 **(The reporter girl is my sneaky self insert shhhh)**

 **Thanks so much for reading, everyone! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think, it would be really appreciated!**

 **If you liked this one and haven't read Head Over Tailfins yet, please do, it's actually the better story imo :' )**

 **But anyway, thanks again! This fic was tons of fun to write and I hope you had just as much fun reading.**


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